Monday, 21 March 2016, started out partly cloudy and became mostly overcast by late afternoon. Tuesday, 22 March, dawned overcast but the sky began quickly clearing with strong winds. There was a clear sky forecast for Tuesday night, but evening clouds and continuing strong winds kept me out of the observatory. Wednesday, 23 March, dawned clear and calm, but the wind was forecast to be strong again during the daytime. A clear sky was forecast for the night. The wind calmed down during the afternoon and the sky remained cloud free.

Open: Wednesday, 23 March 2016, 1819 MST Temperature: 80°F

Session: 939 Conditions: Mostly clear, some clouds low in west, breezy

1838 MST: sunset. Turned StarLock OFF (remained off during session). 1839 MST: viewed Jupiter, low in the eastern sky, 102X. The moons Io and Ganymede were visible, having ended their transits of the planet's disk. Ganymede's shadow was not yet visible (although the shadow transit was in progress). 1842 MST: Ganymede's shadow was now visible near central meridian. Added the Televue 2X PowerMate for 203X. 1850 MST: the moons Callisto and Europa were now visible. 1911 MST: seeing at Jupiter was still not good, but during brief moments had nice views of the planet and the shadow transit. Decided to try iPhone imaging. Unfortunately, none of the images or video recordings yielded any good results due to the poor seeing. 1937 MST: resumed Jupiter observing, 188X. 1957 MST: Ganymede shadow transit neared its end. Due to the poor seeing it was getting difficult to see the shadow approaching the planet's limb. 2002 MST: the waning gibbous Moon rose over the hill to the east. Last view of Ganymede's shadow on Jupiter's limb. 2006 MST: last look at Jupiter, 94X.

Viewed the Moon, 94X. A slight terminator was visible a few hours after the Full phase. 2031 MST: took this afocal 94X image of the Moon, iPhone 6s Plus, Orion SteadyPix Universal Smartphone Telescope Photo Mount:

2041 MST: final look at Moon, 102X.

Close: Wednesday, 23 March 2016, 2052 MST Temperature: 51°F

Session Length: 2h 33m Conditions: Clear

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Observatory upgrades news: The PZT Hardware Kit should ship on Thursday, 24 March, and the pier is supposed to ship on Friday, 25 March.

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