Open: Saturday, 8 July 2023, 1755 MST Temperature: 93°F

Session: 1908 Conditions: Mostly clear, breezy

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 14mm 100° eyepiece
Solar filter

Camera:
D850 DSLR
iPhone 13 Pro Max

Prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging. Attached the solar filter to the 12" telescope.

1805 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

GOTO Sun (as an asteroid). Viewed the Sun with many sunspots, 102X. The large sunspot AR3363 was very nice.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus and imaged the Sun (1/1250sec, ISO 400).

Click or tap on image for larger version

Then imaged the planet Venus at prime focus (1/1250sec, ISO 400). This full-frame image at the same scale and exposure as the Sun image shows the apparent size of the planet for comparison.

Viewed Venus, 102X.

1824-1928 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench. Reviewed my lengthy Herschel 400 imaging plan for this session.

1930 MST: Calm now. Viewed Venus, 102X.

1937 MST: Sunset. Back to the bench.

2000 MST: Viewed Venus, 102X and 174X. Very nice view at 174X.

2005-2030 MST: Back to relaxing on the bench while waiting for the sky to get darker.

2033 MST: Took this handheld iPhone 13 Pro Max photo of Venus projected (174X) onto the observatory dome using the Camera app (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X lens).

Then took this handheld closeup photo of crescent Venus on the dome using the Camera app (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X lens).

Viewed Venus, 174X and 102X.

2038 MST: High Precision ON.

Slewed to NGC5694 (globular cluster), which would be the first Herschel 400 object imaged this night. Viewed it, 102X. Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus, focused on the star Spica, and locked the 12" primary mirror. Slewed back to NGC5694.

2049 MST: StarLock ON.

Did these StarLock autoguided images ISO 3200, 1 minute for the globular clusters and 5 minutes for the galaxies, except for NGC5631 and NGC5689, which were not guided (30 seconds, ISO 6400).

NGC5694 (globular cluster)


NGC5897 (globular cluster)


NGC5634 (globular cluster)


NGC5631 (galaxy)


NGC5866 (M102, galaxy)


NGC5907 (galaxy)


NGC5982 (galaxy, middle)


NGC5557 (galaxy)


NGC5676 (galaxy)


NGC5689 (galaxy)

2233 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed M22 (globular cluster), 102X.

2242 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Saturday, 8 July 2023, 2251 MST Temperature: 81°F

Session Length: 4h 56m Conditions: Mostly clear

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