Saturday, 6 June, 2026, was cloudy. Sunday, 7 June, was also cloudy. At 1957 MST took this iPhone 15 Pro Max (2X lens) photograph of the western sky showing the planets Jupiter (left) and Venus (right) in the pretty sunset sky.

Clouds continued on Monday, 8 June. At 2025 MST took this iPhone 15 Pro Max (2X lens) photograph of the western sky showing the planets Jupiter (left) and Venus (right) closer together.

Open: Tuesday, 9 June 2026, 1829 MST Temperature: 87°F

Session: 2145 Conditions: Clear, breezy

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

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

Prepared the D850 DSLR camera for imaging.

1839 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X. Gibbous phase visible.

Mounted the D850 camera at prime focus + focal reducer to try to image the 1°38' conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. The planets were at their closest separation this night. The camera field-of-view (FOV) with the focal reducer was about 1°39' so I had some hope that I could image both planets in the same FOV. Venus was visible in the camera but not Jupiter in the bright sky.

1904 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench to wait for sunset.

1934 MST: Sunset. Calm now. Back in the observatory.

Checked the camera FOV, but no matter the camera orientation I was not able to get both planets in the same FOV. Removed the camera and focal reducer.

1942 MST: Viewed Jupiter, 102X. Three Galilean Moons were visible in the bright twilight sky.

1952 MST: Relaxed on the bench while waiting for the sky to become darker.

2031 MST: Took this iPhone 15 Pro Max photo of the western sky using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 2X lens). Compare the positions of the planets to the two photos above. The D850 DSLR with 150-600mm lens is at the left and Cassiopeia Observatory at the right.

This D850 DSLR photograph (f/11, 1/15sec, ISO 800, FL 600mm) shows Jupiter and Venus with insets showing magnified images of the planets.

2043 MST: Back in the observatory.

Mounted the D850 camera at prime focus, focused on the star Spica, and locked the 12" primary mirror.

2053 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO Palomar 5 (globular cluster).

2055 MST: StarLock ON.

Took the following StarLock autoguided, ISO 6400, 5 minutes and 1 minute, respectively, images for my Milky Way Globular Clusters Project.

Palomar 5


NGC5986

2128 MST: StarLock OFF, Wi-Fi OFF.

Viewed NGC5986 (globular cluster), 102X.

2138 MST: LX600 OFF.

2148 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading and reported the result to Globe at Night.

Close: Tuesday, 9 June 2026, 2153 MST Temperature: 77°F

Session Length: 3h 24m Conditions: Clear, SQM 21.00

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