Friday, 31 January 2025, at 1256 MST I saw a sunglint from the WIYN observatory on Kitt Peak, 65 miles away. I took a photograph using my iPhone 15 Pro (5X lens). This is a significantly cropped image showing the sunglint. The Mayall 4 meter telescope dome is to the right of the sunglint.

Open: Friday, 31 January 2025, 1815 MST Temperature: 66°F

Session: 2067 Conditions: Mostly clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 50mm eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

1826 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the crescent Moon and Earthshine, 102X and 49X.

Attached the LiDAR Cover on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and mounted the iPhone on the 2" 50mm eyepiece using the 3-axis adapter.

1834 MST: Took these afocal 49X images of the Moon.

Camera app (Night Mode, 5 seconds, 1X lens)


NightCap Camera app (ISO 55, 1/120sec, 1X lens)

1841 MST: iPhone photo of the western sky taken with the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 2X lens).

Mouseover or tap on image for labels

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

Clouds approaching from the west were getting higher in the western sky. I hoped I would get some Deep Sky Object imaging done before the clouds became a problem.

1855 MST: High Precision ON.

Slewed to my first target and began waiting for the sky to get darker.

1919 MST: There was a bright pass of the International Space Station (ISS), as seen in these handheld iPhone photos taken with the Camera app (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X and 2X lens, respectively. The ISS is the trail at the upper left in the first photo and at the lower right in the second photo. Orion is at the upper left of the second photo. The trails are slightly curved due to camera motion from handholding the phone.

Due to the increasing clouds, I decided to end the session.

1936 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Friday, 31 January 2025, 1947 MST Temperature: 51°F

Session Length: 1h 32m Conditions: Partly cloudy

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