After being clear most of the day Tuesday, 30 August 2022, clouds and wind arrived late afternoon, becoming overcast at night. Wednesday, 31 August, was mostly clear until sunset approached. The forecast was for a clear sky that night so I decided to open the observatory.

Open: Wednesday, 31 August 2022, 1819 MST Temperature: 82°F

Session: 1785 Conditions: Partly cloudy, breezy

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

Camera:
iPhone 13 Pro Max

1826-1840 MST: I relaxed on the observatory patio bench while monitoring the clouds. iPhone 13 Pro Max photo (0.5X lens).

1840 MST: The clouds were increasing, but the crescent Moon was visible. I decided I would at least do some brief lunar observing and get an iPhone photo of the Moon.

1841 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed the Moon, 102X and 81X.

I attached my LiDAR Cover on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and mounted the iPhone on the 2" 30mm eyepiece using the Levenhuk adapter. Took this image of the Moon using NightCap Camera (ISO 34, 1/4400sec, 1X lens).

1849 MST: Sunset.

1852 MST: iPhone photo (1X lens) of the western sky. The crescent Moon is at the upper left.

Clouds were increasing, as seen in this iPhone photo (0.5X lens).

1857 MST: Relaxed on the bench and monitored the clouds.

1920 MST: The sky situation did not look promising, as seen in this iPhone photo (1X lens) of the western sky. The Moon is at the left.

1927 MST: With the cloud cover rapidly increasing as clouds moved from the northeast to the southwest, I saw that there was a small clear area near the constellation of Sagittarius in the southern sky. I decided to try to get at least one image for my iPhone Messier Catalog album.

1928 MST: High Precision ON.

Viewed M24 (Sagittarius Star Cloud), 81X. Attached the LiDAR cover on the iPhone and mounted the iPhone on the 30mm eyepiece.

1936 MST: StarLock ON.

I managed to get one StarLock autoguided image of M24 before it was totally obscured by clouds. Taken with NightCap Camera (Long Exposure, ISO 9888, 1sec, 1 minute, 1X lens).

1942 MST: StarLock OFF.

The sky was now mostly cloudy.

1949 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 31 August 2022, 2000 MST Temperature: 79°F

Session Length: 1h 41m Conditions: Mostly cloudy, breezy

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