Saturday, 19 September 2026, I attended the "International Observe the Moon Night" Star Party at Oracle State Park, our local International Dark Sky Park. Cloudy skies returned on Sunday, 20 September. With potential strong thunderstorms in the forecasts, Thursday morning, 24 September, I put the Dome Cover ON. I also disabled the air conditioner now that the air temperature was back to seasonal levels. That afternoon had a nice thundershower that quickly turned into a Severe Thunderstorm Warning with small hail and 0.4" rain in 10 minutes. Storm total was 0.43".

Pacific Hurricane Polo is expected to bring more rain to southern Arizona early next week.

Open: Friday, 25 September 2026, 1911 MST Temperature: 82°F

Session: 2154 Conditions: Clear, humid

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

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

1915 MST: Dome Cover OFF.

1920 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the Moon, 102X. A very slight terminator was visible about 14 hours before Full Moon.

I stepped outside of Cassiopeia Observatory and took this handheld iPhone 15 Pro Max using the Camera app (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X lens). The Moon was projected by the 12" telescope onto the observatory dome. The constellation of Cassiopeia is at the upper right. The Double Cluster is visible below Cassiopeia.

Viewed the Moon, 102X and 81X.

Attached the LiDAR Cover on the iPhone and mounted the phone on the 30mm eyepiece. Took this afocal 81X image of the Moon using the Camera app (1X lens).

Then did some lunar observing, 271X and 102X.

1953 MST: LX600 OFF.

2000 MST: Closed the observatory. The handle of the Big Dipper is at the upper left in this handheld iPhone photo (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens). The double star Mizar is visible.

2003 MST: Dome Cover ON.

Close: Friday, 25 September 2026, 2006 MST Temperature: 74°F

Session Length: 0h 55m Conditions: Clear, humid

Saturday morning, 26 September, the near Full Moon was setting over Picacho Peak, an Arizona State Park 31 miles west of Oracle. I took these handheld photos (slightly cropped) using a Nikon D850 DSLR and 150-600mm telephoto lens (f/6.3, 1/100sec, ISO 1000, FL 600mm). The photos cover about 1 minute of the setting Moon beginning at 0610 MST.

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