I delayed opening the observatory this session, but after sunset there were two cool sights in the western sky.

1939 MST: Crescent Moon with Earthshine and the planet Venus low in the western sky. Taken with an iPhone 15 Pro Max using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 5X lens).

2024 MST: SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The 2nd stage rocket firing was faintly visible to the eye, but is easily seen in these iPhone 15 Pro Max photos using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 2X lens). The last two photos show the 1st stage re-entry burn over the Pacific Ocean. It is the red glow near the bottom middle. The re-entry burn was easily seen with the eye.

Open: Thursday, 5 September 2024, 2106 MST Temperature: 83°F

Session: 2005 Conditions: Clear, breezy

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

2109 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision ON.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus + focal reducer, focused on the star Altair, locked the primary mirror, and slewed to the first Barnard Object I planned to image this session.

2124 MST: StarLock ON.

Began imaging Barnard Objects (dark nebulae), 30 seconds, ISO 6400. All of these objects were very low in the southwestern sky, so most are unguided exposures as the StarLock would not lock onto a guidestar. It was also getting windy, which made autoguiding more difficult.

Two of the images that I took did not show any identifiable dark nebula. I'll try them again on a future session.

2213 MST: StarLock OFF.

I had planned to observe (or try to) some more Barnard Objects, but the next ones on my list were also very low in the SW sky.

Viewed Saturn, 102X. Then viewed M11 (Wild Duck Cluster, open star cluster), 102X.

2228 MST: LX600 OFF.

2237 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading.

Close: Thursday, 5 September 2024, 2241 MST Temperature: 83°F

Session Length: 1h 35m Conditions: Clear, windy, SQM 20.77

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