Sunday. 27 December 2015, was clear. About 90 minutes after sunrise I these photos of Kitt Peak National Observatory (65 miles from Cassiopeia Observatory) and Mt Lemmon Observatory (11 miles away; domes mostly hidden by trees) using the Nikon D7200 DSLR and Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm:

I really like this Tamron 150-600mm lens. I have some other reports on its use for astrophotography earlier in December 2015 on the Reports page.

Open: Sunday, 27 December 2015, 2113 MST Temperature: 35°F

Session: 901 Conditions: Clear

2120 MST: viewed M42 (Orion Nebula), 83X. Then viewed the double star Rigel in Orion, 364X. That gave me the approximate separation for Sirius A and Sirius B (the "Pup Star"). Slewed to Sirius and began searching for the Pup Star, 364X. No luck this night, although I had seen it on a previous session.

Next, viewed the waning gibbous Moon, low in the eastern sky, 77X. Mounted the iPhone 6s Plus on the 8" LX200-ACF using the Orion SteadyPix Universal Smartphone Telescope Photo Mount and took this afocal 77X photo using the Camera app:

I then removed the iPhone and added the Meade Series 5000 3X TeleXtender and did some lunar terminator observing, 231X. Remounted the iPhone for this afocal 231X photo of Mare Crisium:

Removed the SteadyPix and iPhone and took a quick look at the Moon, 83X.

I then slewed to two galaxies which I plan to image later in the week once the waning Moon is not a factor. The faint galaxies were not visible this night due to the bright moonlit sky, but were well positioned for imaging although low in the southern sky.

Close: Sunday, 27 December 2015, 2200 MST Temperature: 38°F

Session Length: 0h 47m Conditions: Clear

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