I was away from the observatory for a few days and nights. Returned on Wednesday, 5 July, 2017. That afternoon smoke from the Burro Fire (southeast of Mt Lemmon) became visible in our sky.

Open: Wednesday, 5 July 2017, 1910 MST Temperature: 90°F

Session: 1133 Conditions: Partly cloudy, smokey

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 50mm eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 6s Plus

After opening the observatory I SYNCed the observatory clock to WWV.

I then took this iPhone 6s Plus panorama photo (southeast to southwest) showing the waxing gibbous Moon and smoke from the Burro Fire:

Click or tap on image for larger version

This iPhone photo shows clouds and smoke (probably from the Fyre Fire (near Mt Graham Observatory) in the northern sky 15 minutes before sunset:

1923 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

The clouds that had been in the northern sky were rapidly moving southward.

1925 MST: viewed the Moon, 102X. 1927 MST: viewed Jupiter, 102X. Two moons and the Great Red Spot were visible. Seeing was bad at times.

The clouds were now approaching the Moon in the southeastern sky so I decided I had better get a photo of the Moon before it was hidden. Switched to the 2" 50mm eyepiece for this handheld iPhone afocal 49X image of the waxing gibbous Moon taken at 1932 MST using the Camera app:

1937 MST: sunset. Clouds and smoke were now in most of the sky. Began closing up for the night. I had expected this to be a short session but not as short as the smoke and clouds made it! 1938 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 5 July 2017, 1946 MST Temperature: 88°F

Session Length: 0h 28m Conditions: Mostly cloudy, smokey

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