Wow that was just fantastic watching the live rocket launch coverage from Cape Canaveral in Florida, I took a lot of screen shots as it was progressing…just so awesome and we are now on the way to Mars...Woohoo!
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/launch/
 
Mars 2020 Mission, Perseverance Rover Launch The Perseverance rover is now on its way to Mars. It launched on July 30, 2020, at 4:50 a.m. PDT (7:50 a.m. EDT). Perseverance launched on an Atlas V-541 rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
 
The launch sequence began here on the east coast of Australia (AEST) at 9.40pm 30th July 2020. Please find below my screen shot images that I took while it was happening live :-)

We are ready to go in just a few hours time, watch the launch at:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/launch/
 
If you have already ‘Sent your name to Mars’ for the Perseverance mission ‘Mars 2020” mission just go the link below, fill in your details and print a new ticket that has been stamped ready for boarding :-)
https://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/mars2020/

This is another fun and educational project by our friends at NASA to make us feel that we are all part of these amazing missions of discovery…Woohoo NASA, thank you!
 
To find out more about the missions go to Mars Exploration Program at:
https://mars.nasa.gov

~ NASA's Mars 2020 Mission Perseverance ~
https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25147/mission-overview-nasas-perseverance-mars-rover/

Comet Neowise was only discovered in March this year and has been putting on a spectacular show in the northern hemisphere.
 
We here in the southern hemisphere only had a brief chance for a few days to see the comet as it headed back out through the Solar System.
 
The only trouble was, the comet was very low in the western sky and could only be seen in twilight with moonlight from a nine-day-old Moon…so all in all, I’m amazed I even captured it near the cluster of stars (Mel 111) in Coma Berenices.
 
I’m so happy that people in the northern hemisphere were able to experience this wonderful comet, the last one we had here in Australia that put on an amazing show was Comet McNaught in 2007, which was just fantastic!!!
 
I wrote an Astroblog reminiscing it when Comet ISON was in our skies at:
http://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-comet-ison-in-2013-comet-mcnaught-in-2007
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Gulf News – Dubai _ 20th July 2020 
​
Congratulations on the successful launch this morning of the Hope Probe, by the United Arab Emirates,
​(UAE) their first spacecraft to another planet!

UAE to Mars: Historic Hope Probe takes off
The UAE Hope Probe rocket launched as planned at 1.58am UAE time in perfect weather at the Japan launch site.
https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae

​Gulf News – Dubai _ 19th July 2020 
The UAE's Hope Probe (Al Amal in Arabic) is the first Arab interplanetary mission.

This is my first image of Mars for 2020 and it’s already showing some detail on the planets surface with the bright South Pole looking spectacular, every two years Mars comes close to our Earth as it orbits the Sun. The date for this year’s opposition of Mars will be on the 13th October 2020. The planet is still far away so its size is very small with a diameter of only 12.7” and magnitude of -0.8 (Taken from Astronomy 2020 Australia edition)
 
I took this image when conditions were not very good as the planet was still low in the eastern sky and cloud was starting to come over the sky, views should get a lot better in the coming months.
​That is, if dust storms don’t cover the planet like they did in 2018!
 
Mars is exhibiting a gibbous phase because part of its disc is not being seen fully illuminated by the Sun as seen by us here on Earth. As Mars reaches opposition the Suns light will fully illuminate its surface, just like when we see a full moon in the sky. This will be the best time for observers to view and take images of this amazing red planet.
 
My image was taken on the 2nd July 2020 with a Meade LX200 GPS 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and ZWO 120 MC-S camera with 3x Barlow lens attached. An AVI movie with 900 frames was captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. 

To read an excellent article about these three missions please go to ABC Science written by Genelle Weule.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-07-13/nasa,-china-and-uae-missions-to-mars/12412312
 
Some website links below to follow these journeys to Mars in 2020: 
NASA Perseverance Countdown to Launch website at:
https://mars.nasa.gov
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/launch/
Mars 2020 Mission Perseverance Rover
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/
 
Emirates Mars Mission
https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae
China National Space Administration
http://www.cnsa.gov.cn

(By Seeker)
https://www.seeker.com

Saturn is now at prime viewing with opposition on the 21st July.  The northern hemisphere of the planet has been tilted our way while the rings have been fully open, but now part of the southern hemisphere is coming into view and the rings are again closing up.  
 
Saturn and Jupiter are now close in the sky on the ecliptic, this astronomical event only happens once every 20 years (or to be exact 19.6 years).  So keep and eye on these two gas giants as both planets slowly edge closer and closer for a spectacular conjunction on the 21st December 2020.
 
I love the way I’ve managed to capture the different coloured bands on the planet and the subtle colours of the gaseous atmosphere and the most amazing thing to think about is Saturn is over 1.4 billion kilometres away from us!
 
Saturn is the most beautiful planet in the solar system because of its stunning ring, now that the Cassini spacecraft is not there up close and personal we have to make do with the view through our telescope eyepiece…. Oh, I so miss the Cassini Spacecraft and the excitement of all the wonderful discoveries it made.
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/
 
My image was taken with a Meade LX200 GPS 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a ZWO 120 MC-S camera and 3x Barlow lens attached. An AVI movie with 1500 frames was captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. 

Late in the evening on the 1st of July, I finally got to image Jupiter for the first time this year, mainly because of all the cloudy weather we’ve been having.
 
I was amazed to see yet again how the area around the Great Red Spot has changed and there appears to be a dark red marking below the (GRS). As all the four main satellite moons of Jupiter were on show orbiting the planet, this is not a shadow transit, so I’m assuming it may be a small active storm.
 
There is another interesting feature, a large white oval storm in the South Temperate Zone that was not there last year. Usually these white oval areas are quite small, I’m finding this intriguing too. Jupiter is so interesting to observe because its turbulent atmosphere is always changing :-)
 
Jupiter comes to opposition on the 14th July and is closest to Earth for viewing, it will rise in the east at the same time as the Sun sets in the west on this date.
 
The image was taken with a Meade LX200 GPS 10 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at prime focus with a ZWO 120 MC-S camera and 3x Barlow lens attached.
​An AVI movie with 1200 frames was captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. 

The sunspot is now looking very small in the 127mm refractor telescope as it rotates towards the western limb of the Sun on the 11th June 2020. During this afternoon observing session I was racing against time as cloud was coming all across the western sky.
 
After taking some images with the refractor I quickly removed it off the Pro HEQ5 mount and replaced it with the Lunt 60mm solar telescope to try and capture some images in Ha. (I always use this tracking mount when using both these telescopes)
 
It was really lucky to get a break in the cloud to capture just two AVI movie movies of the area with the Ha telescope before the whole sky clouded over and that was that…no more observing!
 
The white light image was taken with a 127mm refractor telescope that was fitted with a glass solar filter and using a Canon 700D camera.

​Just one image was captured with an exposure time of 1/320h second and ISO400.  The Ha image was taken with the Lunt solar telescope and a ZWO ASI120MC-S camera attached capturing an AVI movie file and stacking in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4.

The late afternoon sky looked just so pretty with the colours of pink and blue in the eastern sky and the neatly full Moon rising between the bands.
 
If you look to the eastern sky after the sun has set you will see this astronomical phenomenon know as the Belt of Venus it’s also know as the Girdle of Venus too. This dusty pink band layered between the blue sky above and the lower deep blue-grey band below runs all along the horizon before sunrise or after sunset.
 
It’s related to our Earths shadow which extends millions of kilometres out into space, so next time you are watching a beautiful sunset take a moment to turn around and see if you can see this spectacular phenomenon low in the eastern sky.
 
I have just found this very interesting website called World of Phenomena that explains the ‘Belt of Venus’ very well along with a lot of other incredible phenomena that you’ll find in the world and up above:
https://www.phenomena.org/atmospheric/beltofvenus/
 
Wikipedia ‘Belt of Venus’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_of_Venus
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The both images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens on a tripod.

​The wide field image is cropped to a vertical image and the exposure time was 1/160th second with ISO400. With the lunar image the lens was set at 400mm with an exposure time of 1/250th second and ISO400, eight images were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4, image was also cropped.

It was quite late in the afternoon by the time I could finally take an image of this new sunspot on the surface of the Sun. I was having a lot of trouble trying to get some close detail on the sunspot and really could not understand why?
 
After packing up, I looked up towards Mt Tamborine and saw the reason why, a huge forest burn off was taking place and a large plume of smoke was spreading across the western sky. Because of where my telescope was setup between the two houses I was unable to see this smoke, Oh well, at least I was lucky enough to got some images of the sunspot even though they were a bit smoke affected :-)
 
My images were taken on the 5th June 2020, with a 10inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope that was fitted with a glass solar filter and using a ZWO ASI120MC-S camera with a focal reducer attached. The full disc image was taken with a Canon 700D camera, exposure time was 1/500th second and ISO200, 12 images were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. The sunspot looked quite small on the full disc of the Sun.

This new sunspot is from the next Solar Cycle 25, please read more about this from
​Dr Tony Phillips who pens the excellent website Spaceweather.com
https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2019/12/25/reversed-polarity-sunspots-appear-on-the-sun/
 
Another site to keep a daily eye on the Sun is NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) at: https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov