Monday evening, 21 April 2025, I attended the "Stars, Stories & S'mores" International Dark Sky Week 2025 event in Oracle.

Open: Tuesday, 22 April 2025, 1836 MST Temperature: 87°F

Session: 2091 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

1843 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Jupiter, 102X. No moons visible in the bright sky.

1847 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

1901 MST: Sunset.

1913 MST: Back in the observatory. Viewed Jupiter, 102X. All four Galilean Moons were visible in the bright twilight sky.

1920 MST: Moved to higher ground to try to observe Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN), Mag. +7.4, very low in the western sky.

1925 MST: Some crepuscular rays were visible, as seen in this iPhone 15 Pro Max photo.

1950 MST: Jupiter, the star Capella, and the comet's location made a handy right triangle in my attempt to see the faint comet. Unfortunately, with the comet setting at 1957 MST, it would have been behind the distant mountains in the still bright twilight sky. No comet head or tail was seen using 12x50 binoculars.

The comet, if it still exists, will be higher on the coming evenings. However, there are reports that it might have disintegrated on its close pass by the Sun.

2000 MST: Back in the observatory. High Precision ON. I started on my Milky Way Galaxy Globular Clusters Project. I made the following observations, 102X: Palomar 2, Pyxis, NGC3201.

Viewed M104 (Sombrero Galaxy), 102X.

2037 MST: LX600 OFF.

2045 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading and reported the result to Globe at Night.

Close: Tuesday, 22 April 2025, 2048 MST Temperature: 66°F

Session Length: 2h 12m Conditions: Clear, SQM 20.87

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