Walter's LogBook
	Wed/Thu April 12/13, 2000

I set up in the back yard in Oshawa tonight (see picture below). The gibbous moon didn't set until about a half hour before the beginning of astronomical twilight in the morning. Temperatures ranged from +1C to -3C over the course of the night, with light frost. CPU/motherboard temperatures went from 50/30C to 29/9C. Based on two nights of observations, motherboard temperature seems to drop to 12C above ambient.

My backyard setup in Oshawa. Sitting at the computer is much warmer when it's inside the garage!

I imaged NGC 4565, NGC 5466, M53, M5, M12, and M14 using the MX5. Star images were noticeably worse for M5/12/14 (I'll have to re-do these...), and the tracking wasn't as good. My LX200 seems to track best in hour angles -1½ to 0.

New this session was MaxIm DL/CCD 2.07 which gives better images than 2.05/2.06. The nights are getting noticeably shorter now than at the last observing window.

NGC 4565	39 minutes (78 x 30s)
NGC 4565 (10" f/6.3 LX200).

M 53	16 minutes (32 x 30s)
M 53 (10" f/6.3 LX200).

NGC 5466	37 minutes (74 x 30s)
NGC 5466 (10" f/6.3 LX200).

M 5	9½ minutes (19 x 30s)
M 5 (10" f/6.3 LX200).

M 12	11 minutes (22 x 30s)
M 12 (10" f/6.3 LX200).

M 14	11½ minutes (23 x 30s)
M 14 (10" f/6.3 LX200).