~ Sunspot AR4079 ~
 
Large sunspot group AR 4079 is now heading toward the western limb of the Sun; it’s quite amazing that this area on the solar surface has not released all that energy!
 
Images were taken with the little Seestar S50 telescope with attached solar filter (as shown) twenty images were captured and stacked in Registax6 and processed in PS.

Wow! Sunspot AR 4079
 Wow! That sure is a huge sunspot on the surface of the Sun :-o 
 
We’ll just have to wait and see whether it is going to unleash its awesome power in the next couple of days :-)
 
Images were taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with attached solar filter, 20 images captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS. The second image is magnified x2 times.

I’m out at my Stardust Observatory for the long new Moon weekend and finally we have had a few evenings of clear sky. The red planet Mars is now in the constellation of Cancer and moving towards the Beehive cluster also known as M44.
 
I’ve taken a wide field image of the planet among the stars of Cancer using Canon 70D camera with a 70-200mm Canon Lens attached to my tracking telescope in the observatory on Sunday the 28th April at 8pm.
 
20 x 2-minute images with corresponding dark frames were captured with ISO 1250, then stacked in Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) and processed in PS.

~ Mars taken with Meade 10” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope ~
Mars is looking very small now in the 10inch telescope, captured the planet with a ZWO ASI 120MC planetary camera with attached 3x Barlow lens.

You can just make out the polar cap at the bottom of the planet and some dark marking can still be seen on the surface.
 
Information on my Stellarium App states that Mars currently is 6.70” in diameter is at 0.90% phase and its distance is now 1.40AU. Stellarium App at: https://stellarium-labs.com/stellarium-mobile-plus/
 
I use this FREE App all the time for my sky observation, its excellent!

This image was taken with the little Seestar S50 smart telescope when I was at my Stardust Observatory on the evening of the 28th April 2025.
 
I thought it would be fun to see what this little telescope could do in a really dark sky and I was most impressed! Not only does it show the subtle colours of the stars if you look closely into the image you can see a tiny spiral galaxy designation as UGC 4526, its magnitude is a remarkable 14.06…now that’s very faint.
 
It’s estimated that this star cluster is about 600 light years away from Earth.
 
For more information about the Beehive Cluster (M44) please go to the link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_(constellation)

The waning gibbous Moon shows the Tycho crater to the top and the prominent dark Maria of Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) and Sea Of Rains (Mare Imbrium). You can also see the bright ray craters of Copernicus, Kepler & Aristarchus at this illumination phase of 19days old.
 
Images taken with Seestar S50 telescope, twenty images captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.
 
NOTE: I really think this little smart telescope does a great job of taking images of the Moon :-)

The solar surface is showing a lot of activity, with active sunspot AR 4048 being the most spectacular!
 
Images were taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with attached solar filter. Twenty images captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

​Woohoo!
After all the shocking weather with Cyclone Alfred we managed to have a beautiful clear evening for the partial lunar eclipse here on the Gold Coast in QLD Australia on the evening of the 14th March 2025.
 
I’ve viewed many lunar eclipses but this is the first time I’ve seen one in eclipse as it rises in the eastern sky, I wasn’t sure where it was going to come up and I got so excited when I saw it above the rooftops of the houses :-D
 
I couldn’t use my telescope because the eclipsed Moon was so low in the sky, so I used my trustee Canon 70D with Tamron 18-400mm lens with 2x teleconverter making a focal length of 1280mm.
​Camera setup was on a static camera tripod.
 
Ten to fifteen images were captured of each phase then stacked in RegiStak6 and processed in PS.

~ Our Sun today on 14th March 2025 with lots of Sunspots ~

We had a lovely clear day today; this was after all the shocking weather with Cyclone Alfred, so out came my little Seestar S50 telescope to take a picture of the Sun ;-D
 
Tonight we are going to be blessed with a partial lunar eclipse just after the Sun has set its going to be exciting to see what it looks like rising low in the Eastern sky already eclipsed…I hope it stays clears!
 
Twenty images were captured, then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

We had been watching this cyclone for the past week as it travelled out at sea off the coast of Queensland as a Category 2 cyclone! Then on the 7th of March, Cyclone Alfred turned toward the coastline near the Gold Coast. We were right in the firing line, with the southern trailing arms of the storm producing winds at over 130km hour, it hit our coastline during the night of the 8th, the house was shaking and the wind sounded like a freight train! Oh My!!!
 
The last time the Gold Coast got a direct hit from a cyclone was over fifty years ago so we were very lucky indeed that it crossed just north of us near Morton Island and was downgraded to a Category 1 as it crossed over the islands to the north of us…Wow the power of nature, it’s so mighty :-o
 

~ Large active sunspot AR 3998 heading toward the western limb of Sun 24th February 2025 ~
 
We had a very rare clear sunny day to view this large sunspot AR 3998 on the surface of the Sun, image taken with a Seestar S50 telescope. Twenty five images were captured and stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

Had to be quick this evening to take some pictures of the Moon because of all the cloud, I grabbed my little Seestar S50 and within 5 minutes it had found the Moon and I was off and running taking pictures…it’s an awesome little telescope for the Sun & Moon when your trying to out smart the weather. I’m so happy with it :-)
 
Last night (12th February) was full Moon and it was raining, this is the Moon tonight at 15 days old, which is classified as a waning gibbous, you can see a tiny portion in shadow to the top. (This is the view we see from the southern hemisphere, with south to the top and north to the bottom)
 
If you tweak the saturation in Photoshop you can bring out the coloured hues that are from the different minerals embedded in the regolith on the surface of the Moon.

​(This is not added; it’s really there) don’t overdo the saturation or it doesn’t look natural!
 
The bluish colours are from areas high in titanium, and the darker orange/brown areas are rich in iron and other oxides. The bright white reflective areas around the ejecta craters I believe are from aluminium and other bright minerals like magnesium, calcium and silicon.
 
Images were taken with a Seestar S50 telescope, 25 images were stacked in Registak6 and processed in PS.

~ The Moon a la natural ~