THANK YOU, Reggie! Maybe I can think of a way to image the event. I already checked for my area and it's forecast to be clear of clouds and rain. Orion rises in a badly polluted part of my sky, but the brightest stars are faintly visible. The only thing left for me to check tonight is to see if Orion rises high enough to clear my neighbor's house at that time.

The asteroid should eclipse Betelgeusse for about 15 seconds, according to the article you linked to. This can give me enough time to take wide-field images every few seconds and hopefully get a 'now you see it, now you don't' sequence. I'm thinking of using the traking mount, and programming the intervalometer to automate the process so I can view the event at the same time.

Time to start checking/charging batteries, and make a trial run tonight. I hope to have something to post later this week. Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

You're a good friend, Reggie. I hope to have good images to share with you later this week.

My DSLR is mounted on the tracking GEM and ready to go, and I'm charging the power tank. The camera lens is set at 50mm to get a good wide view. I took a few trial images and all looks well. The only thing I'm not thrilled about is that the sky looks like very bright twilight, not night. But, you can see the stars and make out Orion. I just hope I have a good clear sky tomorrow. I was fighting cloud cover earlier tonight.



ADDED 12/11: Although the forecast calls for no rain the cloud cover is supposed to be nearly 100%. Keeping my fingers crossed.

This imaging rig is super easy to take out and start running, and the power tank is getting a needed charge.

 

Monday 12/11/2023: Unfortunately, the imaging event of Asteroid Leona occulting the star Betelgeusse has been cancelled due to impenetrable cloud cover.