Open: Thursday, 10 October 2019, 1803 MST Temperature: 86°F

Session: 1393 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
iPhone 11 Pro Max

Upon arrival at the observatory I set up my new iPhone 11 Pro Max on a camera tripod for some test photos of the waxing gibbous Moon using an inexpensive clip-on 8X telephoto lens.

This is the Moon as seen through the iPhone's 2X telephoto lens. The insert shows a magnified view.

The Moon as seen through the iPhone's 1X normal lens + the 8X telephoto lens. The insert shows a magnified view.

And the Moon as seen through the iPhone's 2X telephotos lens + the 8X telephoto lens. The insert shows a magnified view.

The above photos were taking using the iOS app NightCap Camera.

As I was returning to the observatory I took this photo of a (dead) lizard that was on the observatory patio:

1845 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the Moon, 102X and 81X.

Mounted the iPhone on the 2" 30mm eyepiece using the Levenhuk adapter. My Bluetooth wireless remote stopped working (battery low?) so I switched to using the Apple Earbuds as a remote shutter release. Took this afocal 81X photo of the Moon using the Camera app.

Did some lunar viewing, 271X. Seeing was not very good. Mounted the iPhone on the 2" 9mm eyepiece. Took this afocal 271X photo (Camera app). Near the center in the photo is the bright crater Aristarchus.

Then viewed Saturn, 271X. This afocal photo was taken with the Night Mode of the Camera app and shows Saturn (overexposed) and three moons (two below, one above the rings).

This photo was taken with Night Mode OFF.

While working with the Night Mode setting I discovered that once the Camera app sees that it needs to use Night Mode (which is automatic) and you take a photo using Night Mode, it is not possible to use any of the video modes (the selection buttons are not shown). Even when Night Mode is set to "off" (via the exposure slider) it is still "on". After leaving the observatory I figured out that you need to fully quit the Camera app and relaunch it to get the video modes back.

This afocal 271X image of Saturn was taken with NightCap Camera (ISO 100, 1/25sec).

This is a stack of 313 video frames taken with NightCap Camera.

The Cassini Division is blurred out by the poor seeing.

1932 MST: ended iPhone imaging.

1935 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Thursday, 10 October 2019, 1944 MST Temperature: 67°F

Session Length: 1h 41m Conditions: Clear

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