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~ Large active sunspots on the surface of Sun 29th October 2024 ~

10/29/2024

Wow, there is another large active sunspot emerging on the eastern limb of the Sun (just designated AR 3879). I only just managed to capture these two images late yesterday afternoon in between banks of rolling clouds.

Images taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with attached solar filter, 20 images captured for each set, stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

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~ Andromeda Galaxy (M31) 2.5 million light years away from Earth ~

10/20/2024

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~ Andromeda Galaxy (M31) 2.5 million light years away from Earth image taken at my Stardust Observatory ~

For the month of October our club members came out to Leyburn to hunt down and take pictures of the magnificent Andromeda Galaxy.

I’ve decided to join in and took this image with my Canon 70D camera and Canon 70-200mm F2.8 lens. I took 35 x 2 minutes images with ISO2000 and corresponding dark frames, then stacked them in Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) and processed in PS CS4.

This is a wider field of view than with my Meade 80mm refractor telescope, as I wanted to capture some of the brighter stars around the galaxy.

Andromeda is very low in our northern sky and we only have a very limited time in the months of October and November to capture this magnificent galaxy.

To find out more about this stunning galaxy go the link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy

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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) on Mt Tamborine (Full Moon sky)

10/17/2024

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We have had thunderstorms nearly every afternoon since the comet started its journey outward having survived its touch with the Sun. My husband and I raced up to Mt Tamborine west of the Gold Coast to get a clearer view of the western sky.

To my dismay there was a lot of smoke in the sky, it did make for a beautiful coloured sunset photo but for any chance of seeing the comet, well we would just have to wait and see!

I took some test shots with the camera and at 6.40pm you could just make out the comet low in the western sky, fantastic! Also, by this time the full Moon was now coming up in the opposite direction - Oh dear :-o - Oh well - I did the best I could; the main thing was I got the Comet…Yay!

I really think if there had not been smoke and light from the Moon then the Comet would have looked truly spectacular.

My Images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and 18-400 Tamron lens on a tripod with numerous exposure settings from 2 seconds to 4 second and ISO from 400 to 3200.

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~ Huge tail Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) at dawn (4:22am) 7th October 2024 ~

10/7/2024

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After a whole night of observing in my observatory, I opened the door and looked to the east at the pretty dawn sky and saw a very faint smudge; I asked myself could that be the comets tail?

All I had with me was my little Canon G7x Mark 11 point and shoot camera so I rested it on the car bonnet and took some images…Wow, yes there it was!

To my delight you could clearly make out this huge faint gas tail going right up the horizon, I just wish I had come out earlier and taken some images, but that’s all right I’ve managed to capture it anyway :-)

This Canon camera is just amazing for night-time shots, because its lens goes down to F1.8; the settings for these photos were 5-second exposures and ISO3200. I always use manual focus for infinity that way the stars are in focus.

I’m at my dark sky site at my Stardust Observatory in Leyburn, QLD, Australia.

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~ Active Sun with large sunspots AR 3848 & AR3842 ~

10/6/2024

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The Sun is firing away again with active region AR3848 heading toward the centre of the Sun; another very active sunspot is AR3842 that is rotating toward the western limb.
Both these two areas are likely to produce a CME in the next couple of days!

Images taken with a Seestar S50 with the attached solar filter, 15 images were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS…I really like this little telescope for white light images of the Sun. It’s so easy to set up and within minutes its taking pictures.

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~ One day old crescent Moon in gum trees with Venus in western sky ~

10/4/2024

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~ Tiny one day old crescent Moon between the gum trees in western sky on the 4th October 2024 ~

We arrived at my Stardust Observatory on Friday the 4th October for a long weekend under the stars. It was new Moon yesterday the 3rd October and I was on the look out for the one day old tiny crescent Moon.

At 6.30pm I found it very low in the western sky near the treetops, I had to go right back into the field to capture it and I did…Yay!

The sky is very clear and steady and it looks like it’s going to be a stunning weekend, some members from our club SAS are out here too and I’ve taken a couple of photos of them all set up on the field.
Good luck everyone tonight I hope you all get some great images :-)

These images were taken with a Canon 70D camera plus a Tamron 18-400mm lens on a tripod, using ISO800 with 1.5-second exposures.

~ SAS members getting there telescopes ready for a night under the stars at Leyburn ~
~ 4th October 2024 ~
https://www.sas.org.au

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~ Wow! Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) at dawn in Australia

10/1/2024

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~ Wow! Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) at dawn (4:32am) in Australia on the 1st October 2024 ~

Wow, I could not believe my eyes when I went outside at 4.30am and saw the comet naked eye low in the eastern sky, it was as clear as could be; it was so exciting!

I had to work very quickly as dawn light was approaching, in the end I really had only about 6 minutes to work with but I’m so thrilled to have captured it…Woohoo!

My images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens, exposure time was 6 second with ISO800 and they are only one-shot images.

Time of images from 4.32 to 4.38am, after that, the sky was just too light :-D

Credit: Star Chart from Stellarium App

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~ Large active sunspots on the surface of Sun 29th October 2024 ~

~ Andromeda Galaxy (M31) 2.5 million light years away from Earth ~

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) on Mt Tamborine (Full Moon sky)

~ Huge tail Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) at dawn (4:22am) 7th October 2024 ~

~ Active Sun with large sunspots AR 3848 & AR3842 ~

~ One day old crescent Moon in gum trees with Venus in western sky ~

~ Wow! Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) at dawn in Australia

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