I opened the observatory, Tuesday, 31 January, at 1802 MST, 66°F, to mostly clear skies. I was expecting a visit from a neighbor (not the one with the nuisance lights to the north) and his friend. At 1807 MST, I viewed Venus at 77X and then the moon at 77X. I then set up for some lunar iPhone astrophotography.

This is the moon, afocal 77X, MX-1 Adapter, Camera app:

I added the 3X TeleXtender (yielding 231X) and captured these (cropped but same scale) images with the iPhone 4:

Straight Wall


Crater Davy Complex Shadows


Crater Plato

Beginning at 1830 MST, I did some lunar observing at 206X and 133X. I then viewed Jupiter, 133X, with four moons visible. I then went back to Venus and added the moon filter to the 15mm (133X) eyepiece. The filter really reduced the glare from the bright planet, making its gibbous phase clearly visible.

The visitors arrived about 1845 MST and stayed for about an hour. I showed them Venus, Jupiter, the moon, M42 (Great Nebula in Orion), and the double star Castor. I mounted the neighbor's iPhone (original model) on the 8" LX200-ACF telescope using the MX-1 Afocal Adapter and let him become an astrophotographer. They enjoyed the views and the visit, as did I.

At 1952 MST, I returned to lunar observing at 133X, 206X, and 364X. Seeing was excellent and the views along the terminator were great. I added the 3X TeleXtender to the 5.5mm eyepiece, yielding 1091X, well above the theoretical maximum of 400X for the 8" telescope. The views were impressive. But the best views were with the 9.7mm eyepiece + 3X TeleXtender (619X).

Closed the observatory at 2021 MST, 50°F.

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