All Categories - My Stardust Observatory

~ Saturn & Mars rising in eastern sky at dawn on 8th May 2026 ~

5/8/2026

~ Saturn & Mars at Dawn ~

Oh my! The dawn sky this morning was just so beautiful with the planets Mars and Saturn rising in the east and the stunning colours of the dawn sky :-)

Image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 18-400mm lens, ISO400 with 1-second exposure time. The star chart is from my favourite FREE App called Stellarium.

~ Full Flower Moon on the 2nd May 2026 ~

5/2/2026

~ Full Flower Moon on the 2nd May 2026 ~

In Remembrance of my dear Mother 1937 to 2026
~ Forever loved ~

My dear precious mother has passed away and this beautiful full Moon in the month of May is called the Flower Moon, I dedicate this picture of the Moon to my loving mother, love you forever Xxx

~ Close encounter of Venus & new crescent Moon on 19th April 2026 ~

4/20/2026

I only just got this image of the thin 2-day-old crescent Moon and Venus with the pretty sunset colours in the western sky. I was out on the footpath with my camera and tripod taking these images and showing all the people who were walking their dogs :-D

My images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 18-400mm lens on a tripod, with ISO 400; exposure times were 1/6th & 1/8th second. The video was captured in movie mode.

~ Goodbye Moon from Artemis 11 re-entry to Earth 11th April 2026 ~

4/12/2026

~ Waning Moon in morning sky as Artemis 11 re-enters Earths atmosphere on 11th April 2026 ~

I was unable to capture a picture of the Moon during the night because of cloud, but the next morning just after 9.30am (11th April 2026) and just before re-entry of the Orion Capsule, I was able to capture this image of the Moon in a clear blue sky…. In SE QLD in Australia, the Orion Capsule was predicted to re-enter for splashdown at approximately 10am (AEST).

Congratulations to the four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen who have completed a most amazing mission back to our Moon…Woohoo!!!

The lunar image was taken with the Seestar S50 telescope in a beautiful clear blue sky. This would have been the phase that the astronauts would have seen when looking back toward the Moon as they said goodbye after such a successful mission that will light our passion on rediscovery our closest celestial body in the solar system.

Since 2020, NASA has invited you, the public, to be virtual guests at launches and milestone events. As a virtual guest, you have access to curated resources, schedule changes, and mission specific information delivered straight to your inbox. Following each activity, guests are sent a stamp for their virtual guest passport! All resources, participation, and registration are FREE. Select your opportunities. Join us!

https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-virtual-guest-program/

~ Very special Full Moon on the 2nd April 2026 ~

4/2/2026

I was very lucky to get this image of the full Moon late last night as it was raining earlier on in the evening. It’s a very special full Moon as it’s the closest full Moon after the equinox that dictates when Easter is celebrated by many religions from around the world.

Another reason this full Moon is special is because Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are right now on their way to orbit our Moon in the Orion spacecraft with the Artemis 11 mission. Tonight they will be looking out there windows at us here on planet Earth then going forward onto our amazing Moon…how incredible is that! After so many years humans are going back to the Moon…WooHoo!

NASA Artemis 11 mission to the Moon
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis/

My image was taken with a ZWO Seestar S50 telescope capturing a RAW video and stacking within in the unit, and then processed in PS.

~ CREDIT: NASA

~ Supernova SN2026cff in Galaxy NGC 3660 on 28th March 2026 ~

3/30/2026

After seeing Pierre Ponsard image of SN2026cff in NGC 3660 on Spaceweather.com dated 18th March 2026, I decided to try and capture a picture as well of the Supernova from here at home.

I wasn’t sure that the Seestar S50 would be able to find it with such a light suburban sky, as the galaxy was very faint at 14th magnitude.

The Crater constellation was quite high up the eastern sky and to my utter delight after rechecking my images with Odd Trondal image that he posted on the 3rd April and taken on the 28th March 2026 on Spaceweather.com I have indeed captured the supernova.

Image was taken with Seestar S50 telescope, exposure time was 3160 seconds, the image is cropped and the bright star to the right is called HD 98853, which is 6.94 magnitude. I use the excellent Stellarium App for all my information on the stars.

~ Waxing Gibbous Moon (12 days old) on 30th March 2026 ~

3/30/2026

~ By the light of the silvery Moon ~
it was such a treat to have a lovely clear evening to take some images of our waxing gibbous Moon in the night sky.

Image was taken with a Seestar telescope using the RAW movie mode and stacking the frames within the unit, processed in PS.

I really like this new system of stacking a RAW movie in the Seestar unit then processing the image in Photoshop.
Usually I would capture about 20 jpeg images then stack them in Registak6 then use the wavelet feature to bring out more detail, but I think this method I’m using now gives a more realistic picture of the Moon :-)

A screen shot from my Stellarium App showing what phase of the Moon ~

~ Waxing nearly First Quarter Moon on the 25th March 2026 ~

3/25/2026

I managed to get another bit of clear sky this evening to capture the nearly 1st quarter Moon at 8pm on the 25th March 2026. First Quarter Moon would be in nine hours time at 5am on the 26th March 2026.

My image/video was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope capturing a RAW movie file and stacking frames within the unit, then transferred the image to computer to process lightly in PS :-)

~ Waxing (3 day old) Crescent Moon in western sky 22nd March 2026 ~

3/22/2026

I only just managed to capture this little crescent Moon very low in the western sky in between clouds patches. At three days old, it shows the oval shape lunar mare called the Sea Of Crises (Mare Crisium) on the lower eastern limb.

The Seestar S50 telescope had a bit of trouble locating the Moon for some reason so it took a few turns to find it, I only just managed to capture it before it disappeared into the trees ☺ ☺ ☺

Image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope, this time I captured a video and stacked it within the Seestar unit, then transferred the image to my computer to process lightly in PS.

~ LEGO Northern Lights Diorama Set No: 40785 ~

3/7/2026

~ LEGO Wonders of the Natural World Northern Lights Diorama 40785 ~

I was given this lovely little LEGO collectible set from my daughter when she purchase one of her other LEGO sets as it was a FREE gift.

I did have fun making it as it reminded me of our visit to Norway in March 2018 to view the magnificent Northern Lights :-)

This LEGO Northern Lights Diorama (40785) is the 4th building kit in a LEGO collectible series dedicated to the wonders of nature. The scene depicts a Northern Hemisphere landscape with a skyscape featuring the aurora borealis.

It has snow-topped trees with an added glow-in-the-dark moon element and the colourful tiles that represent the Northern Lights and their reflections.

This Northern Lights diorama depicts a Northern Hemisphere forest landscape complete with model trees and a night sky featuring the aurora borealis…it’s quite beautiful in its detail.

Please find also a couple of photos of the real northern lights taken on board the Hutegruten Cruise Ship in Norway in March 2018 and also on Holland America Cruise Ship 'Koningsdam' in Alaska in May 2024.

~ The real Northern Lights in March 2018 in Norway ~

Links to these blogs in Norway in March 2018 at:
https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-an-explosion-of-auroras-in-the-night-sky-on-the-9th-march-2018

https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/wow-im-under-the-northern-lights-right-now-its-just-awesome

And more recently in Alaska in May 2024 at:
https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-wow-northern-lights-seen-near-skagway-in-alaska-1st-may-2024