There were some clear nights and some cloudy nights since my previous session in the observatory on Wednesday, 6 September. On Wednesday evening, 20 September, there was a beautiful Arizona sunset.

A "Lunar Discovery Star Party" was held at Oracle State Park, Saturday, 23 September, but I was not able to attend. It was the first star party I've missed since becoming involved with the Park in 2014.

In anticipation of finally being able to open the observatory when weather conditions allowed, I removed the Dome Cover on Monday 2 October. I went to the observatory Wednesday evening, 4 October.

Open: Wednesday, 4 October 2023, 1805 MST Temperature: 91°F

Session: 1922 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 13 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

1806 MST: Sunset.

SYNCed observatory clock to WWV time signals.

1812 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Saturn, 102X, low in the southeastern sky.

Prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging.

1828 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench to watch the stars come out.

1856 MST: Watched a bright pass of the International Space Station. Took this handheld iPhone 13 Pro Max photo of the ISS passing near Saturn. Used the Camera app (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X lens).

Mouseover or tap on image to see labels

1904 MST: Viewed Saturn, 102X and 271X.

Relaxed on the bench while waiting for the sky to get darker. From my position on the bench I took this handheld iPhone 13 Pro Max photo using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens) of the constellation of Cassiopeia over Cassiopeia Observatory. Also visible in the photo are the Double Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

Mouseover or tap on image to see labels

1917 MST: Back inside the observatory. Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus, focused on the star Altair, and locked the 12" telescope primary mirror.

1926 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to slew the telescope to Asteroid 8 Flora, Mag. +9.3.

1929 MST: Wi-Fi OFF, StarLock ON.

1930 MST: Began imaging Asteroid 8 Flora, StarLock autoguided, prime focus, 5 minutes exposures every 30 minutes for one hour, ISO 800.

2036 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed Saturn, 271X and 102X.

2048 MST: LX600 OFF.

2057 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading and reported the result to Globe at Night.

Close: Wednesday, 4 October 2023, 2103 MST Temperature: 67°F

Session Length: 2h 58m Conditions: Clear, SQM 20.81

It was nice to be able to be in my observatory once again.

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