Friday morning, 29 September 2017, I went to the observatory to do some maintenance. The 1/2" seals at the POD pivot joints were deteoriating, probably due to the high heat and low humidity here in southern Arizona. They lasted over 8 years though. It took a little over one hour to remove and replace the seals using foam tape received from SkyShed Observatories. Here are before and after photos:

Before replacing seals


After replacing seals

Open: Friday, 29 September 2017, 1806 MST Temperature: 80°F

Session: 1147 Conditions: Partly cloudy

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
1.25" 5.5mm eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 6s Plus
D7200 DSLR

1813 MST: sunset. Did some work in the observatory.

1829 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the Moon, 102X.

Took this handheld iPhone 6s Plus afocal 102X photo using the iOS Camera app:

Did some lunar observing, 443X. Seeing was not great. Grabbed this handheld iPhone photo of the crater Copernicus, afocal 443X:

Switched to the 2" 9mm eyepiece (271X). At this lower magnification the view was better, as seen in the handheld iPhone afocal 271X photo using the iOS app NightCap Camera:

Did more lunar observing, 271X. Watched sunrise near the crater Cichus along the terminator. There were nice mountain shadows and the brightening valley floor.

1857 MST: seeing getting worse. Clouds were now near the Moon.

Viewed Saturn, 102X and 271X. Four moons were visible.

Returned to the Moon and projected it onto the observatory dome.

Set up to image the SkyShed POD observatory, the Moon on the dome, and some stars in the northern sky. I was hampered in my attempts due to increasing clouds, which at times covered the Moon. I was able to finally get this photo with the D7200 DSLR, f/8, 30 seconds, ISO 1600, White Balance Auto:

The Moon is visible on the dome to the left of the telescope.

1936 MST: the sky was now mostly cloudy.

Wi-Fi ON. Did some iOS app ScopeBoss tests for the developer. 1946 MST: Wi-Fi OFF.

1948 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Friday, 29 September 2017, 1955 MST Temperature: 74°F

Session Length: 1h 49m Conditions: Mostly cloudy

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