Open: Friday, 16 January 2026, 1808 MST Temperature: 70°F

Session: 2114 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

After opening the observatory dome, I prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging later.

1818 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter, 102X.

Viewed the Orion Nebula (M42), 102X. The Trapezium star cluster was nice, with some nebulosity visible in the bright twilight sky.

Mounted the D850 camera at prime focus. Then began waiting for the sky to become darker.

1842 MST: Took this handheld iPhone 15 Pro Max photo of Orion rising over the hill to the east. Taken using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 2X lens).

Focused the D850 camera on the star Aldebaran, locked the telescope primary mirror, and SYNCed the AutoStar on Aldebaran.

1849 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO to Whiting 1 (globular cluster). I planned to image several globular clusters for my Milky Way Globular Clusters Project this session.

1853 MST: StarLock ON.

I attempted to image Whiting 1, but seeing was very bad and autoguiding was very erratic. Most of the exposures were aborted after just a few seconds. I suspect that the atmosphere was too disturbed from the strong winds over the past few days and nights. This image (37 seconds, ISO 6400, highly edited) shows Whiting 1 very faintly at the center.

I finally gave up imaging to wait for a better night.

1929 MST: StarLock OFF, Wi-Fi OFF.

1939 MST: Took this iPhone photo from inside the observatory showing the 12" telescope and the constellation of Orion. Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 0.5X lens).

1943 MST: LX600 OFF.

1950 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading and reported the result to Globe at Night.

Close: Friday, 16 January 2026, 1954 MST Temperature: 54°F

Session Length: 1h 46m Conditions: Clear, SQM 20.76

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