Open: Thursday, 19 December 2024, 1807 MST Temperature: 72°F

Session: 2052 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

Prepared the D850 DSLR camera for imaging.

1814 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision ON.

Viewed IC1985/348 (open star cluster and nebula), 102X.

I SYNCed the AutoStar II on IC1985 as the Barnard Objects (dark nebulae) I was hoping to image this session were near it.

Mounted the D850 camera at prime focus + focal reducer, focused on the star Aldebaran, locked the telescope mirror, and slewed to IC1985.

1829 MST: StarLock ON.

Took this StarLock autoguided image (slight crop) of IC1985/348, 2 minutes, ISO 3200. The bright star above the nebula is Omicron Persei.

I then began experimenting with different Barnard Objects coordinate corrections. When those failed, I decided to use IC1985 as a guide and starhopped to a nearby Barnard Object using Live View on the camera. I was able to get this StarLock autoguided image (30 seconds, ISO 6400) of B4.

I then noticed that the AutoStar MODE RA/Dec coordinates display almost matched the Barnard Objects table coordinates. I slewed to the table coordinates for B2 by watching the AutoStar display. I did one image and then tweaked the slew for this image of B2 (30 seconds, ISO 6400).

Using a table correction of RA +4' and Declination -10'35" and centering the High Precision alignment star, I took these two StarLock autoguided images (30 seconds, ISO 6400).

The correction is not perfect, but now I have a plan for imaging more Barnard Objects. Here is my current Barnard Objects Project status:

As has been the case since I started my Barnard Objects Project in September 2023, the Grasslands Observatory Barnard Objects site is the source of reference images.

2005 MST: LX600 OFF.

2016 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading.

Close: Thursday, 19 December 2024, 2018 MST Temperature: 61°F

Session Length: 2h 11m Conditions: Clear, SQM 20.73

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