Wednesday, 26 March 2025, began a long period of cloudy skies. On Thursday, 27 March, I gave my "Smartphone Astrophotography" talk to the members of the Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society in the United Kingdom.

Thursday and Friday, 28 March, were cloudy. Friday afternoon I was at Oracle State Park helping to install a new automated SQM for the Park provided by the DarkSky Southern Arizona Chapter. After I returned home I could see a wildfire west of Oracle that started in the afternoon. It was called the "Saddlebrooke Fire". It was reported that there were 18 individual fires along the highway that burned 100 acres. The third photo, taken next morning, shows the burn scar.

On Saturday, 29 March, I assisted Michael Bain, Ranger from Oracle State Park, our local "International Dark Sky Park" at the Fountain Hills Dark Sky Festival.

At the event I was made an Honorary "National Park Service Junior Ranger Night Explorer"!

On Tuesday, 1 April, I was a guest speaker at the Pinal County, Arizona, Tourism Advisory Group meeting in Florence (Arizona). My talk about the importance of protecting the Night Sky and how that related to Astrotourism was well received.

On Wednesday, 2 April, I spoke at the Pinal County Board of Supervisors meeting in Florence prior to the Supervisors signing a Proclamation for "International Dark Sky Week 2025". This is the post-signing group photo with four of the five Supervisors, some of the County staff who are helping with our Dark Sky efforts in the county, and three other Dark Sky Advocates who live in the county.

Click photo to watch the 14 minutes video

On 2 April, I started preparing for a new Milky Way Globular Clusters Project. There are 146 globular clusters that could be visible from my latitude, although some are very faint and some very low southern Declination clusters may not rise above the mountain along my southern horizon. The photo album currently has 65 of my past images of globular clusters. I will start observing and imaging the remaining globular clusters on future sessions.

As has been the case for the past 14 months with Pinal County government, on Friday, 4 April, I, along with some other Dark Sky Advocates, participated in a meeting with Oro Valley, Arizona, community government. They are working on their Outdoor Lighting Code update and asked for our assistance. It is great that some governments are recognizing the need to protect the Night Sky!

Cloudy nights continued until Sunday, 6 April.

Open: Sunday, 6 April 2025, 1839 MST Temperature: 76°F

Session: 2086 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

SYNCed observatory clock to WWV time signals.

1847 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1850 MST: Sunset.

Viewed the waxing gibbous Moon, 102X and 81X.

Mounted the iPhone 15 Pro Max on the 2" 30mm eyepiece using the 3-axis adapter.

1856 MST: iPhone afocal 81X image of the Moon taken with the Camera app (1X lens).

Viewed Jupiter and the four Galilean Moons, 102X.

As I have mentioned many times, I fell in love with asteroids as an undergraduate astrophysics student at Indiana University. In 1966, as a freshman, I worked on the IU Asteroid Program. I was on the Program for four years and even worked there full-time during the summer after graduation in 1970. I was one of several students who would measure star and asteroid positions on 8x10 inch photographic glass plates using the Gaertner Measuring Engine.

1927 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

I used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO Asteroid 15 Eunomia, Mag. +10.5.

1936 MST: Using SkySafari Pro I identified Asteroid Eunomia, 102X. Switched to the 30mm eyepiece (81X).

1941 MST: Wi-Fi OFF.

Attached the LiDAR Cover on the iPhone and mounted the iPhone on the 30mm eyepiece.

1948 MST: StarLock ON.

1949 MST and 2049 MST: Using the Camera app (Night Mode, 30 seconds, 1X lens) I took afocal 81X images of Asteroid 15 Eunomia.

I am glad I have been able to add another asteroid image to my Asteroids & Dwarf Planets album.

2050 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed Asteroid 15 Eunomia, 102X.

2053 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Sunday, 6 April 2025, 2104 MST Temperature: 54°F

Session Length: 2h 35m Conditions: Clear

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