Open: Wednesday, 5 July 2023, 1817 MST Temperature: 91°F

Session: 1905 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
1.25" 15mm eyepiece
Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector

Camera:
iPhone 13 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

1822 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X and 163X + Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector (ADC).

I then handheld the iPhone 13 Pro Max over the 15mm eyepiece and took this afocal 163X + ADC image of Venus using NightCap Camera (ISO 40, 1/16000sec, 1X lens).

1837 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

1925 MST: Back in the observatory. Viewed Venus, 163X + ADC.

1937 MST: Sunset. Back to the bench.

2000 MST: Back at the 12" telescope. Viewed Venus, 163X + ADC and 102X. Then prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging; mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus of the 12" telescope.

2010 MST: Returned to the bench to watch the sky get darker. Took this handheld iPhone photo of the sky in the east showing the constellations of Hercules, Lyra, and Cygnus.

Mouseover or tap on image

2040 MST: Back inside the observatory to begin imaging more Herschel 400 galaxies. Focused on the star Spica, locked the mirror, and SYNCed on Spica.

2045 MST: High Precision ON.

Slewed to NGC4995 (galaxy).

2047 MST: StarLock ON.

Took these StarLock autoguided images. All were 5 minutes, ISO 3200, except NGC4958 and NGC4866, which were 2 minutes, ISO 5000 due to poor autoguiding on them.

NGC4995


NGC4958


NGC4900


NGC4866


NGC4725


NGC4800

2155 MST: StarLock OFF.

SYNCed on the star Arcturus and began observing some Herschel 400 objects, 102X: NGC5005 (galaxy), NGC5033 (galaxy), NGC5054 (galaxy), NGC5195 (galaxy), and NGC5248 (galaxy).

2217 MST: The sky was getting brighter from the rising waning gibbous Moon. Continued observing Herschel 400 objects, 102X: NGC5273 (galaxy), NGC5322 (galaxy), NGC5363 (galaxy), NGC5364 (galaxy), NGC5466 (globular cluster), NGC5473 (galaxy), and NGC5474 (galaxy).

This is my current Herschel 400 Project summary.

2234 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 5 July 2023, 2245 MST Temperature: 77°F

Session Length: 4h 28m Conditions: Clear

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