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Moon and Jupiter

Posted: 4 June 2017

Friday, 2 June 2017, began clear but unforecast clouds arrived from the east late in the afternoon. The sky was clear Saturday morning, 3 June, but once again unforecasted clouds appeared mid-day along with strong breezes.

Open: Saturday, 3 June 2017, 1837 MST
Temperature: 102°F
Session: 1118
Conditions: Partly cloudy, breezy

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 30mm eyepiece
1.25" 15mm eyepiece
2" 2X PowerMate

Camera:
iPhone 6s Plus
D7200 DSLR

SYNCed observatory clock to WWV. Cleaned 24mm eyepiece and 12x50 binoculars. Then viewed the Moon, 12x50 binoculars.

1853 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF. Viewed the Moon, 102X and 81X.

Mounted the iPhone 6s Plus on the 2" 30mm eyepiece using the Levenhuk Smartphone Adapter. Took this afocal 81X photo of the Moon before sunset (hence the blue sky) using the iOS app NightCap Camera:

photo

1900 MST: breezes had calmed down now. 1930 MST: sunset.

Took another iPhone afocal 81X photo of the Moon:

photo

Switched to the 1.25" 15mm eyepiece (163X) and did some lunar viewing. Seeing was not very good however. Using the Levenhuk adapter and NightCap Camera, took these iPhone afocal 163X photos:

photo

photo

Added the 2" 2X PowerMate and took this iPhone afocal 325X image of the crater Copernicus under poor seeing conditions:

photo

1952 MST: viewed Jupiter, 163X. Two moons were visible: Ganymede and Callisto. Two shadows transiting the planet were also visible: Ganymede and Io. Took this handheld iPhone afocal 163X image showing the two moons (Ganymede above, Callisto below):

photo

Mounted the iPhone using the adapter for this stack of 324 video frames (NightCap Camera), afocal 163X, showing the shadows of Ganymede near the Northern limb and Io in the Northern Equatorial Belt:

Mouseover or tap on image
Mouseover or tap on image for pointers to shadows

2000 MST: done iPhone imaging at the 12" telescope.

The conjunction of the waxing gibbous Moon and the planet Jupiter looked pretty so I decided to take some D7200 DSLR photos. This first one shows the conjunction at the top and the star Spica in the lower lefthand corner:

Mouseover or tap on image
Mouseover or tap on image for pointers

This D7200 DSLR photo shows the Moon and the planet Jupiter:

photo

2016 MST: last look at Jupiter, 102X.

2017 MST: LX600 OFF.

Then viewed the Moon and Jupiter using the 12x50 binoculars. Both were nicely in the same field-of-view.

Close: Saturday, 3 June 2017, 2027 MST
Temperature: 84°F
Session Length: 1h 50m
Conditions: Mostly clear


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Copyright ©2017 Michael L. Weasner / mweasner@me.com
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