Monday, 24 April 2023, was cloudy and windy. Tuesday, 25 April, was clear but still windy. Wednesday, 26 April, was clear, but I did not open the observatory that night in order to attend a meeting to re-form the Oracle Dark Skies Committee. Thursday, 27 April, was clear and windy during the daytime, with some clouds in the western sky as sunset approached.

Open: Thursday, 27 April 2023, 1815 MST Temperature: 74°F

Session: 1857 Conditions: Mostly clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 4X Powermate

Camera:
iPhone 13 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

1825 MST: Dome OFF.

1826-1908 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

The First Quarter Moon was high in the sky (top of photo) as seen in this iPhone 13 Pro Max photo using the Ultra Wide Angle (0.5X) lens.

1904 MST: Sunset.

1909 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X and 406X.

Prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging and then mounted the camera at prime focus + 2" 4X Powermate. This full-frame image (1/400sec, ISO 200) shows the scale of Venus in the camera.

This image is a stack (cropped) of 1224 video frames (20 seconds) taken at 1080p, 60fps, 1/320sec, ISO 200).

I then imaged the lunar terminator, prime focus + 4X, 1/250sec, ISO 2500.

This image of the First Quarter Moon was taken at prime focus, 1/400sec, ISO 400.

I removed the camera and viewed the Moon, 102X. I then toured the lunar terminator, 406X. Nice sights.

1947 MST: LX600 OFF.

1951 MST: Dome ON.

Close: Thursday, 27 April 2023, 1955 MST Temperature: 67°F

Session Length: 1h 40m Conditions: Mostly clear

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