Cloudy skies returned on Wednesday, 3 June 2026. There were some thunderstorms in the area. The sky cleared on Friday, 5 June.

Open: Friday, 5 June 2026, 2001 MST Temperature: 85°F

Session: 2144 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

2007 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X. Viewed Jupiter and the four Galilean Moons, 102X.

Slewed the telescope to my first imaging target. Prepared the D850 DSLR camera for imaging.

2019 MST: Dome OFF.

2024 MST: Jupiter and Venus getting closer together. Taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera app (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X lens, handheld).

2027 MST: Viewed NGC5248 (galaxy), 102X. It was faintly visible in the twilight sky.

Mounted the D850 camera at prime focus, focused on the star Arcturus, locked the telescope primary mirror, and SYNCed the AutoStar on Arcturus.

2039 MST: StarLock ON.

Due to poor seeing the StarLock was not able to lock onto a guide star. This image of NGC5248 (galaxy) was 30 seconds, ISO 4000.

Refocused using the star Spica and slewed to Omega Centauri (globular cluster), very low in the southern sky. The StarLock was able to lock onto a guidestar, but the image (30 seconds, ISO 2000) of Omega Centauri was somewhat blurred out due to the low altitude.

2107 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO NGC5834 (globular cluster). It was also very low in the southern sky. Again, the StarLock was not able to lock onto a guidestar due to poor seeing. This image of the small globular cluster was also 30 seconds but at ISO 6400.

Due to the poor seeing conditions (it had been windy much of the day), I ended imaging.

2126 MST: StarLock OFF, Wi-Fi OFF.

Kissing Bug terminated.

Observed NGC5834 (globular cluster), 102X.

Observed Omega Centauri (globular cluster), 102X.

Observed M4 (globular cluster), 102X.

2140 MST: LX600 OFF.

2143 MST: Dome ON.

2152 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading.

Close: Friday, 5 June 2026, 2155 MST Temperature: 76°F

Session Length: 1h 54m Conditions: Clear, SQM 20.93

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A friend who has a high quality photo printer sent me a print of my recent iPhone Whirlpool Galaxy image. For comparison here is my image (bottom) with an image (top) taken with the Kitt Peak WIYN 3.5-meter telescope and its multi-million dollar camera! Thanks Harold!!!

Click or tap on image for larger version

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