The report of the big celebration at Oracle State Park, Saturday, 21 March 2015, in honor of its being designated as an International Dark-Sky Association "International Dark Sky Park", has been posted on the Oracle Dark Skies Committee web site.

Open: Tuesday, 24 March 2015, 1811 MST Temperature: 81°F

Session: 797 Conditions: Partly cloudy

1818 MST: viewed Venus, 83X. The planet is now showing a nice gibbous phase. Switched to the Baader Zoom 8-24mm Eyepiece, which provided good views of Venus at all magnifications. 1822 MST: took this handheld iPhone 5s photo (cropped) of Venus, afocal 250X:

1826 MST: switched back to the 2" 24mm UWA eyepiece (83X) and viewed the Moon. The crater complex Janssen along the terminator looked fascinating this evening.

1841 MST: sunset.

1855 MST: took this handheld iPhone 5s afocal 83X photo of the Moon:

Switched to the Baader Zoom 8-24mm Eyepiece. Did some handheld iPhone 5s imaging of Janssen at various focal lengths. This cropped view is at 250X:

1906 MST: began doing some lunar observing, 250X. There were many nice sights. I noticed that a bright star was about to be occulted by the Moon. I checked SkySafari Pro on my iPhone and found out the star was 63 Tau. Did some handheld iPhone photos afocal 83X (Baader Zoom Eyepiece) for this sequence of the Moon (Earthlit) approaching 63 Tau:

I then viewed the occultation, 83X.

1929 MST: last look at the Moon, 83X.

Slewed to Jupiter and viewed it using the zoom eyepiece at all magnifications. The four Galilean Moons were visible.

Close: Tuesday, 24 March 2015, 1946 MST Temperature: 63°F

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