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D850 Astrophotography Moon, Orion Nebula & satellites

Posted: 5 February 2025

Monday, 3 February 2025, was cloudy. The sky cleared on Tuesday, 4 January.

Open: Tuesday, 4 February 2025, 1809 MST
Temperature: 78°F
Session: 2069
Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
Focal reducer
2" 4X Powermate

Camera:
D850 DSLR

1814 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Saturn, 102X. Viewed Venus, 102X. Viewed Mars, 102X. The North Polar Cap was visible. Viewed Jupiter and the four Galilean Moons, 102X.

Viewed the near First Quarter Moon, 102X.

Prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging. Mounted the camera at prime focus + focal reducer. Took this image of the Moon (1/250sec, ISO 800).

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Removed the focal reducer and added a 2" 4X Powermate and took these images of the Moon (1/125sec, ISO 6400).

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Removed the 4X Powermate and added the focal reducer for this image of Earthshine (1/8sec, ISO 6400).

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Slewed to M42 (the Great Orion Nebula).

1855 MST: StarLock ON.

I began imaging the Orion Nebula at several exposure settings. I noticed that several satellites (mostly Starlink satellites probably) were photobombing my images. This movie of five images (30 seconds, ISO 4000) taken at about 1 minute intervals shows the satellites crossing the Orion Nebula).


Click to view video

This is a stack of the five images.

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1911 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed M42 (Orion Nebula), 102X.

1917 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Tuesday, 4 February 2025, 1925 MST
Temperature: 65°F
Session Length: 1h 16m
Conditions: Clear


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