After stepping inside the observatory I noticed a wasp inside. First time in over 4 years of use that I've seen a wasp inside the POD. That had to be dealt with first thing! I opened the dome and a few minutes later the wasp flew away. Whew! But have to wonder if it will return.

1836 MST: viewed Jupiter, 83X and 222X. Three moons were visible, but seeing was not very good.

While waiting for the nearly full moon to rise over the hill to the east, I decided to check my accessories to see if any had a screw that would fit the replacement Meade 2" 99% Reflectivity diagonal that I received a few days ago but that had a bent screw. I discovered that the screw on the Meade Series 5000 1.25" 3X TeleXtender was an exact match for the screw on the 2" diagonal. I mounted the Meade diagonal on the 8" LX200-ACF and was able to use it. I am still waiting on a replacement screw from Meade.

1849 MST: moon now above the hill to the east. At 1853 MST, viewed the moon, 83X, using one of the filters from the Zhumell 2" Variable Polarizing Filter as a moon filter. The moon was currently too low for good viewing however.

While waiting for the moon to rise higher, I did some software testing. Testing was completed at 1926 MST.

1927 MST: resumed lunar observing, 83X + filter. A slight terminator was visible on the moon, less than 24 hours before Full. But the moon was still too low for good viewing; just too much atmospheric turbulence.

1943 MST: breezes gone, but seeing still not good. 2003 MST: seeing not improving. Decided to take this handheld iPhone 5s photo of the moon, afocal 83X, no filter:

Then began closing up.

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