Open: Friday, 29 December 2017, 1811 MST Temperature: 75°F

Session: 1181 Conditions: Clear

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 50mm eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece
1.25" Binoviewers, 20mm eyepieces
1.25" 1.6X Barlow Lens

Camera:
iPhone 8 Plus

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

1816 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the waxing gibbous Moon, 102X and 49X.

Took this handheld iPhone 8 Plus photo of the Moon, afocal 49X, using the iOS app NightCap Camera (ISO 22, 1/3200sec):

Switched to the 2" 9mm 100° eyepiece (271X) and did some lunar observing. Seeing was not good enough for 271X magnification.

Decided to do lunar observing using the William Optics Binoviewers with 20mm eyepieces (122X). The bright Moon was gorgeous with a pronounced "3D effect" from using both eyepieces with the binoviewers. Added the 1.6X Barlow Lens (195X) but even that was really too much magnification for the seeing conditions this night. Removed the Barlow Lens and did some more lunar observing with the binoviewers, 122X.

Next, I used the Vortex Diamondback 12x50 Binoculars to view the Moon, and then the Pleiades, Great Nebula in Orion, and the Double Cluster. Even with the bright sky from the Moon, the views of the Pleiades, Great Nebula in Orion, and the Double Cluster were nice.

Returned to the 12" telescope and did some more lunar observing with the binoviewers, 122X.

These handheld iPhone 8 Plus photos, NightCap Camera, show the view of the Moon at 122X through one of the binoviewers eyepieces:

1853 MST: took a last look at the Moon, 102X.

1855 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Friday, 29 December 2017, 1902 MST Temperature: 66°F

Session Length: 0h 51m Conditions: Clear

---

Comments are welcome using Email. Twitter users can use the button below to tweet this report to their followers. Thanks.

Tweet

---

Previous report

Cassiopeia Observatory Home Page