Recently, animals have really chewed up the outdoor carpet that was installed on the observatory concrete pad in August 2009, especially along the edges:

In addition, twice I have replaced a large section in front of the observatory door where I have worn it out:

I have decided that it is time to have the carpet replaced. On Thursday, 16 June 2016, I visited a carpet store in Oro Valley to make arrangements for a new carpet. The old carpet will be removed, the slab cleaned, and new carpet installed. Should happen in about two weeks.

Open: Thursday, 16 June 2016, 1901 MST Temperature: 91°F

Session: 985 Conditions: Clear, breezy

Equipment Used:
ETX-105PE
AutoStar #497 handset
1.25" 26mm eyepiece
1.25" 3X TeleXtender

Camera:
iPhone 6s Plus

Set up the Meade ETX-105PE on the observatory patio:

1916 MST: breezes ended. 1924 MST: took this iPhone 6s Plus photo of the ETX-105PE with the waxing gibbous Moon:

1937 MST: sunset. ETX ON. Faked the star alignment. Viewed the Moon, 56X and 170X. The views were very nice, with lots of lunar details visible.

Mounted the iPhone on the ETX-105PE for afocal imaging using the SteadyPix camera adapter. This is the Moon afocal 56X:

Added the 3X TeleXtender. These are photos along the lunar terminator, afocal 170X:

2006 MST: removed the iPhone and slewed the telescope to the star Spica and SYNCed the AutoStar on it. Did a GOTO Jupiter. The four Galilean Moons were visible, 56X. At 170X the Great Red Spot was visible at the Central Meridian. Mounted the iPhone again for this afocal 167X photo (cropped) showing the four moons (Jupiter overexposed) with one moon near the planet's disk:

This is a stack of 466 video frames, afocal 170X, of Jupiter:

2021 MST: viewed Mars, 56X and 170X. Pretty good view with some surface details visible. Tried to image it but discovered in post-processing that the planet was overexposed. Rats.

Next, viewed Saturn, 56X and 170X. Very pretty. Tried to image it with the iOS Camera app but it was too underexposed. So I used NightCap Pro for a video recording. This is a stack of 320 video frames, afocal 170X:

2034 MST: ended using the ETX-105PE. Began preparing to photograph the International Space Station pass. Mounted the iPhone on a camera tripod using the SteadyPix. I visually picked up the ISS low in the northwestern sky and started imaging using the "ISS mode" of NightCap Pro. Once the space station passed out of the camera field-of-view I ended the imaging. Unfortunately, I messed up and the image was not saved. Grrrr. Will try again on the next opportunity.

Close: Thursday, 16 June 2016, 2107 MST Temperature: 73°F

Session Length: 2h 06m Conditions: Clear

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