iPhone 5s: Crescent Moon, Jupiter, Mars
Posted: 2 May 2014
I did not open the observatory or go to Oracle State Park (for sky quality measurements) due to very dusty skies from several days and nights of strong winds. This is how the sun looked a few minutes before sunset on Thursday, 1 May 2014, taken using an iPhone 5s (HDR photo, full digital zoom):
But finally the dust settled out of the atmosphere on Friday, 2 May, and I was back in the observatory again.
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Opened: Friday, 2 May 2014, 1821 MST Temperature: 91°F |
Session: 680 Conditions: Mostly clear with some clouds low in North |
1829 MST: Viewed the crescent moon, 83X, against a still bright blue sky. 1840 MST: viewed Jupiter, 83X. One moon (Ganymede) was visible. 1842 MST: Io appeared. 1852 MST: back to the moon. Switched to a 1.25" 26mm eyepiece (77X) and mounted the iPhone 5s for afocal imaging. 1910 MST: sunset. Took this photo, slighly cropped at 1912 MST:
Slewed back to Jupiter and viewed it using 222X. The moons Callisto and Europa were now visible. Began imaging using the iPhone 5s. This is a stack of 1713 frames from a slo-mo (120 fps) video (15 seconds), 666X:
Took a final look at Jupiter, 222X. Seeing was not ideal.
Slewed to Mars and viewed it using 222X. Seeing was not very good, but the North Polar Cap and Syrtis Major were visible. There was some cloud near the South Pole and a possible orographic cloud near the equator approaching the sunset limb. This is a stack of 1721 frames (slo-mo video), 666X + one filter from a Variable Polarizing FIlter set:
Mouseover or tap on the image to see labels
I then ended the session in order to go to Oracle State Park for more sky quality measurements and sky photos to support the IDA "International Dark Sky Park" nomination. A report will be posted late in the day on Saturday, 3 May.
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Closed: Friday, 2 May 2014, 2007 MST Temperature: 71°F |
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