Clouds returned on Saturday, 19 December 2015, with a pretty sunset that evening:

Sunday, 20 December, dawned mostly clear, but cloudy skies were forecast and the sky became mostly overcast by mid-morning. During the afternoon I supported the Mt Lemmon SkyCenter Astrophotography Exhibit Closing at Oracle State Park. The Exhibit had run since 7 November 2015. Adam Block from the SkyCenter gave an exciting talk on his astrophotography at the Closing. See the ODSC Past Events page for photos and a report.

Monday, 21 December, dawned clear, but clouds began showing up shortly after dawn. Wednesday, 23 December, received 0.04" rain. I lost out on some good passes of the International Space Station (ISS) during this period of cloudy skies.

I was able to capture a nice ISS pass in a cloudy sky about 45 minutes after sunset on Christmas Eve using my iPhone 6s Plus and the iOS app NightCap Pro (ISS mode, ISO 2000, 1/3sec):

ISS rising over the Cassiopeia Observatory dome:


Near Full Moon rising and ISS setting:

Christmas Morning, 0520 MST, about one hour after precisely Full, I took this photo (slightly cropped) of the "Christmas Full Moon" in the western sky, D7200 DSLR, Tamron 150-600mm lens, f/11, 1/320sec, ISO 100, FL 600mm:

Click or tap on image for larger version

Clouds along the western horizon made for an interesting setting Full Moon scene. 0717 MST, f/5, 1/160sec, ISO 1600, FL 150mm:

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I have posted my review of SkySafari 5 Pro. Check it out.

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