Open: Tuesday, 15 December 2020, 1729 MST Temperature: 58°F

Session: 1571 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 5.5mm 100° eyepiece

Camera:
D850 DSLR
iPhone 11 Pro Max

1734 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1736 MST: viewed Jupiter and four moons, 102X. Then slewed to bring Saturn into the same field-of-view (FOV). The planets were separated by 38' 45".

1740 MST: viewed the thin crescent Moon, low in the western sky, 102X.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus of the 12" telescope.

Took this 1/30sec, ISO 1600, image of the Moon.

Slewed back to Jupiter and Saturn. This is a (cropped vertically) prime focus image (1/320sec, ISO 1600) of both planets. The four Galilean Moons are visible at Jupiter.

Click or tap on image for larger version

I stepped outside of the observatory and took this handheld iPhone 11 Pro Max photo of the western sky. Jupiter and Saturn are at the top and the crescent Moon with some Earthshine is at the bottom.

Mouseover or tap on image for labels

This handheld D850 DSLR photo (f/4, 1/8sec, ISO 3200, FL 55mm) shows the planets (top), the observatory, and the Moon to the right of the observatory.

1819 MST: viewed the planets again, 102X. Neat view.

Viewed Mars, 102X and 443X. The gibbous phase was very obvious.

1848 MST: did a tour of open star clusters in the constellation of Auriga, 102X: NGC1664, NGC1857, NGC1893, NGC1907, M38, M36, and M37. Then did a tour of some Deep Sky Objects in the constellation of Taurus, 102X: NGC1647 (open cluster), NGC1817 (open cluster), and M1 (Crab Nebula).

1921 MST: LX600 OFF.

1932 MST: did a Sky Quality reading and reported the result to Globe at Night.

Close: Tuesday, 15 December 2020, 1935 MST Temperature: 41°F

Session Length: 2h 06m Conditions: Clear, SQM 21.00

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