iPhone Gibbous Moon
Posted: 24 April 2013
Removed two pack rat nests from near the observatory during the day on Monday, 22 April 2013. Their residents had been previously relocated. Also trapped one more pack rat, but he either had a heart attack or overdosed on peanut butter, and he died. I had planned to open the observatory that night, but after being clear all day, an hour before sunset unforecast clouds showed up, along with some wind. Overnight, captured another pack rat, alive this time. He was relocated. Count is now four live ones and two dead ones.
The observatory was opened Tuesday, 24 April, at 1829 MST, 85°F. There were a lot of cirrus clouds in the sky. I delayed powering on the 8"LX200-ACF until the rising waxing gibbous moon was nearly out of the tree southeast of the observatory. Finally, at 1853 MST, the telescope was powered on and I viewed the moon using the 2" 24mm UWA eyepiece (83X). The lunar disk was entirely visible in the eyepiece FOV. However, seeing was not very good due to the thin clouds.
I handheld the iPhone 4 over the eyepiece but could not quite capture the entire lunar disk. So, I switched to my OPT 2" 30mm eyepiece (67X) and could now get the entire moon. At 1921 MST, captured this photo:
At 1928 MST, viewed Jupiter and four moons through thin clouds, 83X.
I ended the session as the cirrus clouds were now in most of the sky.
Closed the observatory at 1940 MST, 71°F.
I received an email alert from CalSky.com that the Hubble Space Telescope will transit the waning gibbous moon Monday morning, 29 April. Weather permitting, I'll try to image it. My previous HST-Moon transit on 29 March 2013 was clouded out. A HST-Sun transit occurred on 22 February 2013, but my attempt to capture the HST crossing the sun was unsuccessful.
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