Thursday morning, 29 October 2026, with heavy rains in the forecasts and a Flash Flood Watch issued, I put the Dome Cover ON. The rain arrived after midnight Friday morning, 30 October. Total Friday was 0.1". Saturday, 31 October, was another day with rain occasionally during the day and heavier at night (total 0.78"). Rain continued on Sunday, 1 November (2.41"). Early Monday morning, 2 November, had more rain (0.67"). The total rain since Friday from this weather system was 3.96". With clear skies now in the forecasts, I removed the Dome Cover.

Open: Monday, 2 November 2026, 1804 MST Temperature: 66°F

Session: 2159 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

SYNCed observatory clock to WWV time signals.

1815 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Did some initial new product tests.

1844 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO some globular clusters for my Milky Way Globular Clusters Project. SYNCed on Altair. Viewed NGC6535 and NGC6539, 102X. Other clusters I had missed during our months-long bad observing conditions were too low in the southwestern sky. Will wait until mid-2027 to observe and image them.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus, focused on the star Altair, and locked the 12" primary mirror.

1917 MST: Wi-Fi OFF, High Precision ON, StarLock ON.

Imaged these globular clusters, StarLock autoguided, 2 and 1 minutes, respectively, ISO 6400.

NGC6535


NGC6539

1933 MST: StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF/

Viewed Saturn, 102X and 174X. The view of the planet was very nice at 174X.

Viewed M33 (Triangulum Galaxy), 174X and 102X. Best view at 102X since the galaxy is large.

Due to high humidity (papers were damp), decided to end the session.

1952 MST: LX600 OFF.

2009 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading and reported the result to Globe at Night.

Close: Monday, 2 November 2026, 2013 MST Temperature: 52°F

Session Length: 2h 09m Conditions: Clear, Humidity 69%, SQM 20.80

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