Friday, 17 April 2020, the sky was cloudy. Saturday, 18 April, was partly cloudy and windy, as was Sunday, 19 April.

Open: Monday, 20 April 2020, 1917 MST Temperature: 76°F

Session: 1458 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece
2" 2X Powermate
2" 4X Powermate
2" 30mm eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 11 Pro Max

1922 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X. Then adjusted the alignment of both finderscopes.

Viewed Venus, 406X and 542X.

Began tests of an iPhone app for my upcoming review.

2010 MST: the bright, unshielded, horizontally aimed, floodlights on the side of a neighbor's house to the northwest of the observatory were coming on frequently. Apparently, small animals walking by their house trip the motion detector. Not only are these lights considered Light Pollution, they are a Light Nuisance and are a source of Light Trespass. And they are actually dangerous. After my eyes have become dark-adapted, the floodlights blind me when they come on, making objects near me difficult to see. Then I have to wait to get dark-adapted again. This iPhone photo shows the lights.

As a preview of the Camera Mount review, here is a teaser image. This is the western sky taken with the iPhone 11 Pro Max using the iOS Camera app in "Night Mode" (30 seconds). The bright star Sirius is at the left, with Orion to its right. The bright planet Venus is at the right. The vertical "V" of the Hyades star cluster in the constellation of Taurus is below and left of Venus.

2105 MST: I had planned to do some more Camera Mount tests but strong breezes came up. I decided to defer those tests to another session.

Slewed to M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) to do some galaxy iPhone imaging tests. Viewed the galaxy, 102X and 81X.

After completing these tests there were several very strong wind gusts. I decided to close up for the night.

2131 MST: LX600 OFF.

2142 MST: took a Sky Quality reading and reported the reading to the Globe at Night. Unfortunately, the sky quality (darkness) was reduced by the neighbor's floodlights being ON at the time I took the reading. That fact was included in my report to Globe at Night.

Close: Monday, 20 April 2020, 2149 MST Temperature: 62°F

Session Length: 2h 32m Conditions: Clear, windy, SQM 21.18

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Sunday afternoon, 19 April, I gave a talk on Smartphone Astrophotography on Facebook Live, hosted by Scott Roberts of Explore Scientific. Click on the link to view the saved video (1h 12m).

After almost 7 years I have updated Weasner's Mighty ETX with two new Telescope Tech Tips articles and some updated links.

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