Sunday, 5 February 2017, began with a mostly clear sky, but it was overcast by early afternoon. Cloudy nights continued until Thursday, 9 February. The forecast was for a cloudy night but the sky began clearing after sunset.

Open: Thursday, 9 February 2017, 2002 MST Temperature: 70°F

Session: 1071 Conditions: Mostly clear

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
Wired AutoStar II handset
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 30mm eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 6s Plus
D7200 DSLR

2007 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF. High Precision OFF.

Viewed the Moon, 102X, less than a day before precisely Full. A slight terminator was visible. The Moon was very bright.

Then began setting up to photograph the Moon. Switched to a 2" 30mm eyepiece (81X) and mounted the iPhone using the Levenhuk Smartphone Adapter. Used the iOS app NightCap Pro for this image:

2021 MST: I wanted to try a test this night. Could I photograph the "Pup Star" (Sirius B) using the iPhone and NightCap Pro? First, I slewed the 12" telescope to the star Rigel and switched to a 2" 9mm 100° eyepiece (271X). Focused on the star using the Astrozap Bahtinov Mask. Rigel's companion star was easily seen. It is at a similar distance to that between Sirius A and Sirius B and so would be a good guide for the "Pup Star". Mounted the iPhone using the Levenhuk adapter and did a 15 second video recording using NightCap Pro (ISO 400, 1/60sec). I then slewed to Sirius, tweaked the focus using the Mask, and did a 15 second video recording using the same exposure settings. Here are single frames from the two videos, cropped:

Rigel's companion is visible (below the main star), but the "Pup Star" (which would be to the right of Sirius A) was not captured. Will try again on a future session using a higher magnification to increase the separation of Sirius B from Sirius A.

2039 MST: ended the iPhone imaging tests. I then tried observing the "Pup Star", 271X, but without success. I had seen it with the 8" LX200-ACF telescope but have yet to observe it with the 12" telescope.

2047 MST: slewed the telescope to the star Canopus, which was very low in the southern sky. Canopus is the third brightest star in the sky after the Sun and Sirius. I used the D7200 DSLR for this photograph of Canopus just above the mountain to the south and the moonlit observatory, f/11, 10 seconds, ISO 1600:

Mouseover or tap on image for a pointer to Canopus

2104 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Thursday, 9 February 2017, 2110 MST Temperature: 65°F

Session Length: 1h 08m Conditions: Mostly clear

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