Open: Sunday, 6 August 2023, 1733 MST Temperature: 96°F

Session: 1915 Conditions: Mostly clear, breezy

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 2X Powwermate
Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector

Camera:
D850 DSLR
iPhone 13 Pro Max

Before I opened the observatory dome, I prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging the thin crescent phase of the planet Venus. The planet would be low in the western sky and about 12° from the Sun. With Venus getting closer to the Sun and lower in the sky each night, this could be my last opportunity to image it during this current appearance.

1743 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X. The thin crescent phase was nice to see. There were some clouds along the western horizon and the sky was very bright.

I mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus + 2X Powermate + Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC). Unfortunately, I could not get Venus in the camera field-of-view. The planet was not visible in the finderscope due to the bright sky, some thin clouds, and the planet's faintness. I also tried without the ADC and without the 2X Powermate, both without success. I decided to wait a little bit for the western sky to get a little darker as the Sun got lower in the sky.

1820 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

1844 MST: Venus was now behind a tree and not visible using the telescope. My imaging attempt this session was bust.

There was a Monsoon Season thunderstorm south of Tucson that I was monitoring, as seen in this iPhone 13 Pro Max photo (3X lens) taken at 1848 MST:

1914 MST: As sunset approached, clouds from the storm were getting closer (iPhone 1X lens):

1916 MST: But it did make for a pretty sky (iPhone 0.5X lens).

1920 MST: Sunset. Calm. The clouds were at the zenith now.

1933 MST: The sky was not looking good for continuing my Herschel 400 Project this session (iPhone 0.5X lens).

I decided to give up. This was an unproductive session in the observatory. Fortunately, this rarely happens to me. Unfortunately, the Monsoon weather pattern is forecast to bring more cloudy nights for the next week.

1936 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Sunday, 6 August 2023, 1951 MST Temperature: 88°F

Session Length: 2h 18m Conditions: Mostly cloudy

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