Wednesday night, 13 August 2025, a Monsoon Season thunderstorm was nearby. Some areas got a lot of rain, but only 0.05" here. Saturday afternoon, 16 August, a nice thunderstorm came through (0.29" in 40 minutes). As sunset approached, this rainbow appeared.

18 August 2025 was the 16th Anniversary of "First Light" at Cassiopeia Observatory. In 2011 I made a short video of the Making of Cassiopeia Observatory.

Wednesday afternoon, 20 August, there were some small thunderstorms in the area but very little rain here (0.02"). Thursday late afternoon, 21 August, a storm caused a major power outage for much of Pinal County. The outage lasted for six hours. It started about an hour before sunset. After the storm moved west of Oracle I took this photograph of it.

We got only 0.14" rain from a later storm during the outage. Monday, 25 August, another storm with a possible microburst came though. Got 0.25" rain in 10 minutes with a temperature drop of 25°F. Also another another power outage (84 minutes). Wednesday, 27 August, had a brief rainshower in the afternoon (0.03"). Sunday, 31 August, as sunset approached a dust storm (haboob) south of Tucson blew a lot of dust into Oracle! This was the view looking west.

Mid-day on Thursday, 4 September, moisture ahead of Pacific Hurricane Lorena began arriving in southern Arizona. A brief thunderstorm occurred here (0.01"). Shortly after midnight on Saturday, 6 September, moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Lorena arrived (0.1"). Monday, 8 September, I opened the observatory for some observing after a nearly 4 month absence. I will explain the reasons for the absence in a future report.

Open: Monday, 8 September 2025, 1825 MST Temperature: 109°F

Session: 2095 Conditions: Mostly clear

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

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

Dome Cover OFF. SYNCed the observatory clock to WWV time signals. I then repaired the air conditioning hot air duct that had come loose sometime im the previous week.

1840 MST: Sunset.

1913 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

I ran the focuser full travel several times to redistribute the lubrication after several months of non-use. I then focused on the star Altair and SYNCed the AutoStar II.

Viewed M22 (globular cluster), 102X. Nice view.

1931 MST: The eastern sky was brightening from the rising one-day past full Moon.

Viewed M17 (Swan Nebula), 102X. Good view in the bright sky.

Viewed M11 (Wild Duck Cluster), 102X. Pretty. I took this handheld iPhone 15 Pro Max afocal 102X photo of M11 using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens).

Several times this session I relaxed on the observatory patio bench and just looked up at the night sky. That was enjoyable.

2005 MST: The waning gibbous Moon appeared over the hill to the east. Viewed the Moon through trees, 102X. A slight terminator was visible.

2020 MST: The International Space Station (ISS) made a nice bright pass over Cassiopeia Observatory. I took this handheld iPhone photo (Night Mode, 10 seconds, 1X lens).

2040 MST: Viewed the Moon, 102X and 81X. Took this handheld iPhone afocal 81X photo of the Moon using the Camera app (1X lens).

2045 MST: Took this handheld iPhone photo of the Moon projected onto the observatory dome using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens). The Big Dipper is in the upper lefthand corner.

2049 MST: LX600 OFF.

With Monsoon storms still in the forecasts I put the Dome Cover ON.

It was nice to get back in the observatory again!

Close: Monday, 8 September 2025, 2105 MST Temperature: 81°F

Session Length: 2h 40m Conditions: Clear

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