Thursday, 31 May 2018, was mostly clear but windy. The wind began dying down as sunset approached.

As I walked to the observatory I saw this Great Horned Lizard (taken with the Nikon Coolpix P900 digital camera):

Open: Thursday, 31 May 2018, 1841 MST Temperature: 82°F

Session: 1242 Conditions: Clear, breezy

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
1.25" 15mm eyepiece
SkyTracker Pro

Camera:
Coolpix P900
iPhone 8 Plus

After opening the observatory dome I saw this bunny just outside of the observatory (also taken with the P900):

I set up the P900 camera on the iOptron SkyTracker Pro for this night's astrophotography tests:

1903 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X and 163X.

Then saw some birds in a nearby tree (P900):

I stepped outside of the observatory and took a P900 photo (full zoom; cropped) of two of the domes at Mt Lemmon Observatory (11 miles away):

1928 MST: sunset. It was calm now.

Viewed Jupiter, 163X. The four Galilean Moons were visible.

1956 MST: viewed Jupiter using 12x50 binoculars. Three of the moons were visible; the 4th was too close to the planet's disk.

2009 MST: polar aligned the SkyTracker Pro for the night's P900 astrophotography tests. I did several test images for my upcoming Coolpix P900 review. 2056 MST: tests completed.

Returned to the observatory and began setting up for iPhone afocal imaging of Jupiter. I mounted the iPhone 8 Plus on the 1.25" 15mm eyepiece and did several single frame images and video recordings. I used the iPhone 8 Plus 1X and 2X lens for the images and videos. This afocal 163X + 2X lens is a stack of 923 video frames (30 seconds) taken with the iOS app NightCap Camera (ISO 80, 1/90sec):

The Great Red Spot is visible at the lower right.

2122 MST: southeastern sky brightening from the rising waning gibbous Moon. Ended imaging.

Viewed M9 (globular cluster), 163X and 102X. It was low in the sky and viewed through a tree.

Viewed Jupiter, 102X. The Great Red Spot was seen.

2132 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Thursday, 31 May 2018, 2144 MST Temperature: 72°F

Session Length: 3h 03m Conditions: Clear

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