Tuesday morning, 30 September 2025, with Monsoon Season having coming to end with clear skies in the forecast for several nights, in anticipation of opening the observatory that night I went to the observatory to remove the Dome Cover. Upon arrival at the observatory I saw this one inch long "billbig" on the observatory outside wall.

Open: Tuesday, 30 September 2025, 1807 MST Temperature: 77°F

Session: 2096 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

SYNCed observatory clock to WWV.

1811 MST: Sunset.

1813 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the Moon, 102X and 81X.

Attached the LiDAR Cover on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and mounted the iPhone on the 30mm eyepiece using the Accuview Adapter. Took this afocal 81X image of the Moon using the Camera app (1X lens).

Viewed the Moon, 271X.

Mounted the iPhone on the 9mm eyepiece and took these afocal 271X images of the Moon using the Camera app (1X lens).

1830 MST: Wi-Fi adapter ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN), which was low in the western sky. It was not visible in the bright twilight sky.

1836 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

1842 MST: The International Space Station (ISS) made a nice pass above the Cassiopeia Observatory dome, as seen in these iPhone photos with the Camera app (Night Mode, 1 second, 1X).

1900 MST: Back in the observatory.

1907 MST: Spotted Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN), 12x50 binoculars. It was low in the sky and faint. Only the faint coma was visible; no tail was seen. I never saw the comet in the telescope finderscope or eyepiece. By 1927 MST the comet was behind a tree.

Viewed the Moon, 102X. Projected the Moon onto the observatory dome and took this handheld iPhone photo (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens). The constellation of Cassiopeia is at the upper right looking down at Cassiopeia Observatory.

1936 MST: LX600 OFF.

1941 MST: Wi-Fi OFF.

It was very enjoyable to be back in my observatory. Frequent site visitors will have noticed that I stopped regularly going to my observatory after mid-May 2025. There were two reasons for that. The first reason was due to cataracts in both eyes. Second, a hip problem that actually began in February 2025 had become annoying enough that walking to the observatory, opening and closing the dome, and even just moving around inside the observatory was painful. Together, the cataracts and hip pain significantly reduced my enjoyment of being in the observatory. I wanted to be there, but it was just no longer fun. After I had the cataract surgeries in August, the hip pain continued to keep me out of the observatory except for one session. Hopefully, the hip issue is finally going away. I will report on the cataract surgeries in a future report.

Close: Tuesday, 30 September 2025, 1945 MST Temperature: 72°F

Session Length: 1h 38m Conditions: Clear

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