Open: Wednesday, 3 May 2017, 1809 MST Temperature: 97°F

Session: 1108 Conditions: Mostly clear, breezy

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 30mm eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 6s Plus
D7200 DSLR

Upon opening the observatory I did some work for an upcoming product review.

1847 MST: ended the tests.

This is a handheld photo of the Moon I took using the iPhone 6s Plus + a cheap clip-on 8X telephoto lens, iOS app NightCap Camera (ISO 40, 1/2000sec):

1849 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1851 MST: dome OFF.

Did some lunar viewing, 102X and 271X. Looked for the exact North and South poles using 271X. Lunar libration was not enough for viewing the South pole, but the sun's illumination and northern libration were almost enough to view the North pole. Perhaps it will be visible on the next session.

1911 MST: sunset. Calm now.

Switched to the 2" 30mm eyepiece and mounted the iPhone 6s Plus using the Levenhuk adapter. This is an afocal 81X photo of the Moon using the iOS app NightCap Camera (ISO 25, 1/400sec):

These afocal 271X photos show the North and South polar regions (ISO 40, 1/80sec, and ISO 160, 1/180sec, respectively):

North Pole Region


South Pole Region

Compare the above images to those from the previous session.

1928 MST: ended afocal imaging. 1930 MST: last look at the Moon. Dome ON.

1934 MST: viewed Jupiter, 102X and 271X. Three moons were visible.

As I was preparing to close up for the night I noticed that the Moon was near the star Regulus in the constellation of Leo. This D7200 DSLR photo (cropped), f/5.6, 1/40sec, ISO 400, FL 140mm, shows the star Regulus (left) and the slightly overexposed Moon:

1943 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 3 May 2017, 1855 MST Temperature: 77°F

Session Length: 1h 46m Conditions: Mostly clear

---

Comments are welcome using Email. Twitter users can use the button below to tweet this report to your followers. Thanks.

Tweet

---

Previous report

Cassiopeia Observatory Home Page