After Saturday morning's Total Lunar Eclipse, the clouds that had hampered my iPhone imaging using my 50 year old Edmund Scientific 3" Newtonian Telescope went away as the day progressed. As sunset approached, there were still a few clouds along the northern horizon. I opened the observatory 10 December 2011 at 1711 MST, 61°F. Sunset occurred at 1717 MST. At 1720 MST, I viewed Venus at 77X. Seeing was not great. Switched to the 9.7mm (206X) eyepiece plus moon filter (to reduce glare). Using the JMI MicroFocus fine focus adjustment I could get a good focus, making the gibbous phase clearly seen.

I set up to do some iPhone afocal imaging of Venus but by the time I was ready, Venus was into a low tree and the view had deteriorated too much.

At 1756 MST, viewed Jupiter, 77X and 133X. The four Galilean Moons were visible. GOTOs were a little off this evening, which was a result of my moving the telescope during installation of the JMI MicroFocus on 8 December. I realigned the AutoStar II. That was completed at 1808 MST. I returned to Jupiter and used the 9.7mm eyepiece + 2X Barlow Lens (412X). Seeing was not perfect, but there were some good details visible in the planet's atmosphere.

I set up for iPhone afocal imaging, 444X + moon filter, using the FiLMic Pro video recording app. I did 1 and 2 minute recordings. This is a stack of the 2 minute recording, 2902 frames, using Keith's Image Stacker and edited with GraphicConverter:

At 1842 MST, took a quick look at the moon, 77X, which was low in the east. Seeing not good. Decided to close up for the night as it had been a long day after getting up early for the Total Lunar Eclipse.

Closed the observatory at 1900 MST, 52°F.

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