Saturday, 25 May 2024, was clear and windy. That night I attended a special event at Oracle State Park given by the Artist in Residence Wesley Fawcett Creigh.

The event was well attended by an appreciative audience. Wesley's talents provided incentives for future projects at the Park. Following her presentation I discussed seeing the night sky with many people who stayed at the Park.

Sunday, 26 May, was clear.

Open: Sunday, 26 May 2024, 1832 MST Temperature: 81°F

Session: 1974 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 50mm eyepiece
2" 30mm eyepiece
1.25" 15mm eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 15 Pro Max

1844 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

1926 MST: Sunset.

2000 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision ON.

Slewed to M82 (Cigar Galaxy). It was not visible in the twilight sky.

2008 MST: Back to the bench while waiting for the sky to get darker. Saw several Earth-orbiting satellites.

2030 MST: Back at the 12" telescope, viewed M82 (Cigar Galaxy), 49X. Then viewed both M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (Cigar Galaxy) in the same eyepiece field-of-view, 49X.

Attached the LiDAR Cover on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and mounted the iPhone on the 2" 50mm eyepiece.

2037 MST: StarLock ON.

Took this StarLock autoguided iPhone afocal 49X image of M81 (Bode's Galaxy) and M82 (Cigar Galaxy) using the Camera app (Night Mode, 30 seconds, 1X lens). Some artifacts appear in M81 from the incamera processing.

Then viewed M81 (Bode's Galaxy) , 81X. Mounted the iPhone on the 2" 30mm eyepiece. Took these StarLock autoguided iPhone afocal 81X images using the Camera app (Night Mode, 30 seconds, 1X lens).

M81 (Bode's Galaxy)


M82 (Cigar Galaxy)


M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy)


M104 (Sombrero Galaxy)

2110 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed M104 (Sombrero Galaxy), 81X.

Viewed M57 (Ring Nebula), 81X, 163X, and 102X.

2118 MST: LX600 OFF.

2129 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading.

Close: Sunday, 26 May 2024, 2132 MST Temperature: 69°F

Session Length: 3h 00m Conditions: Clear, SQM 21.05

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