Open: Sunday, 10 July 2016, 1859 MST Temperature: 97°F

Session: 996 Conditions: Clear, breezy

Equipment Used:
ETX-105 + LXD55 GEM
1.25" 26mm eyepiece
1.25" 3X TeleXtender

Camera:
iPhone 6s Plus
D7200 DSLR, 600mm lens

I again set up the ETX-105 + LXD55 GEM for use this night. (I have posted my review of the ADM dovetail and rings used to mount the ETX on the LXD55.) I also set up the Nikon D7200 DSLR with the Tamron 150-600mm lens on the Barska Professional photographic tripod. The telescope and camera on the observatory patio are seen here:

1922 MST: LXD55 ON. Faked the star alignment as no stars were visible yet. 1927 MST: viewed the Moon in the ETX-105, 57X. 1930 MST: took this handheld iPhone 6s Plus afocal 57X photo through the ETX:

1936 MST: sunset. Calm now. I began some preparations for an upcoming pass of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

While waiting for the pass I did some more lunar observing, 170X. Took this handheld iPhone afocal 170X photo of the craters Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina:

1952 MST: LXD55 OFF.

Mounted the iPhone 6s Plus on the camera tripod using the SteadyPix adapter. Then began waiting for the pass to start. And I waited, and waited, and waited... The HST was too faint and the twilight sky too bright for the satellite to be visible this evening. Glad I was able to photograph it with the iPhone on the two previous nights.

2015 MST: mounted the DSLR with 150-600mm lens on the camera tripod. Set the focal length to 600mm for Moon photography. This slightly cropped photo shows some Earthshine and three stars around the Moon. The Moon is overexposed in the f/6.3, 1 second, ISO 400, exposure.

The next photo, also slightly cropped, is a f/6.3, 1/400sec, ISO 400, exposure:

The image has been highly saturated in editing to bring out some colors on the Moon.

2029 MST: began closing up.

Close: Sunday, 10 July 2016, 2040 MST Temperature: 81°F

Session Length: 1h 41m Conditions: Clear

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Many of you know Rod Mollise ("Uncle Rod"). He recently posted the article "Lo, there shall be an ending…", which is something that all of us have or should be thinking about.

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