Open: Saturday, 28 October 2023, 1730 MST Temperature: 82°F

Session: 1927 Conditions: Clear, breezy

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 5.5mm 100° eyepiece
2" 30mm eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

Tonight would be the first night testing my new Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max for astrophotography. I will need to slightly enlarge the camera lens holes on my homemade LiDAR Cover.

SYNCed observatory clock to WWV.

1737 MST: Sunset.

1741 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench while waiting for the sky to get darker.

When I upgraded from my iPhone 13 Pro Max to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, I also upgraded from my Apple Watch Series 6 to the new Watch Ultra 2. The much larger screen on the Ultra 2 can show more information. It also has an automatic night mode to change the display to red. That's very nice for nights in the observatory.

1805 MST: Back inside the observatory.

1808 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Saturn, 102X.

1811 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

I tested using SkySafari 7 Pro on my iPhone 15 Pro Max to control my LX600 telescope. After re-doing the IP and Port settings, the iPhone connected to the telescope and I could control the LX600 using SkySafari.

1820 MST: Wi-Fi OFF.

Next, I did some handheld tests of the iPhone 15 Pro Max 5X telephoto lens. This is a full-frame image of the Full Moon taken with the NightCap Camera app (ISO 34, 1/210sec, 5X lens).

1830 MST: Calm now.

I viewed Saturn, 443X.

Mounted the iPhone 15 Pro Max on the 5.5mm eyepiece using the Accuview 3-Axis Smartphone Adapter. I did not use the LiDAR Cover since it did not fit the lens properly. The top image is a full-frame afocal 443X image of Saturn taken with NightCap Camera (ISO 1600, 1/60sec, 1X lens). The bottom image is a stack of 2585 video frames taken with the Filmic Legacy video app (ISO 2144, 1/480sec, 240fps, 10 seconds, 1X lens). I used the Accuview Bluetooth Remote Shutter Release with both NightCap Camera and Filmic Legacy.

1850 MST: Viewed the Full Moon, 102X and 81X, low in the eastern sky. There was a very slight terminator visible.

Mounted the iPhone on the 30mm eyepiece using the Accuview adapter. Took this full-frame afocal 81X image of the Moon using NightCap Camera (ISO 55, 1/2500sec, 1X lens).

I projected the Moon on the observatory dome at 102X. Took this handheld iPhone 15 Pro Max photo using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens).

Lastly, I viewed Jupiter, low in the eastern sky, 102X. It was too low for good viewing.

1919 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Saturday, 28 October 2023, 1931 MST Temperature: 67°F

Session Length: 2h 01m Conditions: Clear

I will doing more iPhone 15 Pro Max using NightCap Camera. Although the app has not been recently updated and does not recognize this model iPhone, it still seems to work fine for imaging. It just does not show the new iPhone features, notably the lens focal length (shows 2X instead of 5X). It can still use the 5X lens at its full focal length.

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