As forecast, cloudy skies returned on Wednesday, 21 January 2026. With rain and possible snow in the forecast, Thursday afternoon, 22 January, I put the Dome Cover ON. Some rain (0.14") occurred on Friday, 23 January. Had a brief shower (0.1") late Saturday night, 24 January.

Monday evening, 2 February, there was a conjunction of the planets Mercury and Venus very low in the western sky right after sunset. The planets were separated by about 2.4°. Unfortunately, clouds, which made for a pretty sunset, obscured the planets.

Tuesday evening, 3 February, the sky was clear. I set up a D850 DSLR camera with a 150-600mm telephoto lens on a camera tripod to photograph the conjunction. The planets would be separated by about 3°.

1757 MST: Sunset.
1809 MST: I spotted Venus, Mag. -3.9, about 3° above the horizon, using 7x50 binoculars.
1824 MST: I spotted Mercury, Mag. -1.2, about 6° above the horizon, using 7x50 binoculars.

I never saw either planet with just my eyes.

1826 MST: Cropped D850 DSLR photograph (f/8, 1/30sec, ISO 400, FL 300mm) showing the planets.

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Wednesday morning, 4 February, I viewed the large sunspot AR4366. It was barely visible to the naked eye (using a solar filter). It was easily seen using my Lunt Solar Systems SUNoculars 8x32.

0913 MST: I took this photograph (slight crop) using the D850 DSLR camera (f/8, 1/800sec, ISO 800, FL 600mm).

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