Open: Thursday, 15 June 2023, 1817 MST Temperature: 87°F

Session: 1890 Conditions: Mostly clear, breezy

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR
iPhone 13 Pro Max

1825 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench to monitor approaching clouds and the wind.

A Turkey Vulture decided to check me out.

Click to view video

1930 MST: Back in the observatory.

1936 MST: Sunset. Calm now. Still some clouds.

1937 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X. No Venus imaging due to the clouds.

1940 MST: Back to the bench to continue monitoring the clouds.

2000 MST: Back in the observatory. Clouds decreasing. Prepared the D850 DSLR for Herschel 400 objects imaging. Mounted the D850 DSLR at the 12" telescope prime focus.

2010 MST: Back to the bench to wait for the sky to get darker.

2030 MST: Back at the telescope. Focused on the star Spica and locked the 12" mirror.

2033 MST: High Precision ON.

Slewed to NGC4273 (galaxy), which was my first imaging target.

2036 MST: StarLock ON.

Began imaging Herschel 400 Catalog objects. Unfortunately, thin clouds kept passing by making this a challenging night of imaging. I took 60 images of 13 objects to get only 8 good images. I will have to re-image 5 galaxies on the next session. Images below are StarLock autoguided, 5 minutes, ISO 3200, except for NGC4303 (2 minutes, ISO 5000), NGC4361 (2 minutes, ISO 3200), and NGC4365 (2 minutes, ISO 3200).

NGC4273 (galaxy)


NGC4281 (galaxy)


NGC4303 (M61, galaxy)


NGC4361 (planetary nebula)


NGC4365 (galaxy)


NGC4203 (galaxy)


NGC4251 (galaxy)


NGC4258 (M106, galaxy)

2310 MST: StarLock OFF. I gave up on further imaging this session due to the thin clouds that were in most of the sky.

Saw a Kissing Bug; terminated.

Observed some more Herschel 400 galaxies, 102X: NGC4414, NGC4419, NGC4429, NGC4435, and NGC4438.

2334 MST: LX600 OFF.

Took this handheld iPhone 13 Pro Max photo (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X lens) of the Milky Way.

Close: Thursday, 15 June 2023, 2346 MST Temperature: 68°F

Session Length: 5h 29m Conditions: Clear but thin clouds

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I have been invited to be a guest speaker at this event. I will post more details when I know more.

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