Open: Friday, 24 April 2026, 1604 MST Temperature: 96°F

Session: 2129 Conditions: Clear, windy

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

In preparation for the Occultation of the bright star Regulus Saturday afternoon, 25 April 2026, I did opened the observatory to do text exposures of the Moon and Regulus in the bright afternoon sky.

SYNCed the observatory clock and the D850 DSLR camera clock to WWV time signals. Then prepared the camera for imaging.

1615 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1620 MST: Slewed to Regulus. It was not visible, 102X. Slewed to the Moon, which was slightly out-of-focus. Refocused on the Moon and slewed back to Regulus. The star was now visible in the bright blue sky, 102X.

Regulus was not visible in the finderscope or using 12x50 binoculars. The sky was too bright.

Mounted the D850 camera at prime focus + focal reducer, focused on the Moon, and locked the telescope mirror. Focusing was difficult due to the wind, atmospheric turbulence, and the low contrast view of the Moon in the bright sky.

Did 1080p, 60 fps, videos at various exposure settings to determine what values would work best for both the Moon and the star Regulus.

I determined that 1/250sec, ISO 100, White Balance Auto would work for both, as seen in these two videos (2 seconds and 5 seconds, respectively, looping). The music you hear was playing in the background using my iPod Touch in my SkyShed POD observatory.

Click to view video

Click to view video

Regulus is difficult to see in the small video due to being slightly out-of-focus (a lesson learned from the Dry Run). Click the images below to view the videos at larger scales:

Click or tap on image for larger version

Click or tap on image for larger version

I then took these prime focus images of the Moon and Regulus, both 1/250sec, ISO 100, White Balance. That's when I learned that Regulus was slightly out-of-focus, which I corrected for the image below. For the occultation I will first focus on the Moon, then focus on Regulus.

1650 MST: Dry Run completed.

Viewed the Moon, 102X.

1657 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Friday, 24 April 2026, 1704 MST Temperature: 84°F

Session Length: 1h 00m Conditions: Clear, windy

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