A Cooper's Hawk came to visit Friday, 23 February 2018. This photo was taken from my office through a window using the Nikon D850 DSLR and Tamron 150-600mm lens (at 600mm).

Click or tap on image for larger version

Strong winds arrived mid-afternoon on Friday. Didn't open the observatory that night due to the wind. Wind was gone on Saturday, 24 February. Late in the afternoon another hawk visited but was a little further away.

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Open: Saturday, 24 February 2018, 1806 MST Temperature: 67°F

Session: 1204 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
iPhone 8 Plus
D850 DSLR

1810 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1813 MST: viewed the waxing gibbous Moon, 102X and 81X.

1817 MST: sunset.

Handheld the iPhone 8 Plus over the 2" 30mm eyepiece for this afocal 81X photo of the Moon using NightCap Camera (ISO 22, 1/140sec):

I then took some handheld photos of the Moon using the Nikon D850 DSLR + Tamron 150-600mm lens. This full-frame photo was taken at f/6.3, 1/320sec, ISO 100, FL 600mm:

Click or tap on image for larger version

Click on the photo to see a cropped version showing the image quality of the D850 at 600mm.

I then returned to the 12" telescope and did some brief lunar observing, 271X. Seeing was not very good at times. But I was able to get this handheld iPhone afocal 271X photo of the crater Copernicus using NightCap Camera (ISO 22, 1/180sec):

I then took a quick final look at the Moon, 102X.

1837 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Saturday, 24 February 2018, 1846 MST Temperature: 54°F

Session Length: 0h 40m Conditions: Clear

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