Category: - My Stardust Observatory

~ Rustic red Super (Perigee) Full Moon rising on 7th October 2025 ~

10/7/2025

Oh my! What a beautiful sight it was to see the (Perigee) Super Moon rising in the evening sky.

At the moment there’s a lot of aerosols in our sky because of many bush fires and dust, which is why the full Moon low on the horizon looks this beautiful rustic red colour :-)

A few hours later at 9 pm when the Moon was high up in the sky it was it’s normal colour.

I was quite surprised to see that the Seestar S50 telescope picked up the beautiful red colour of the Moon, 25 images were captured for both shots then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

~ 12 day Moon for International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) 2025 ~

10/5/2025

We had a beautiful clear evening for NASA’s International Observe the Moon night (InOMN) event.

Our astronomy club the Southern Astronomical Society (SAS) here on the Gold Coast held a public field night but I was unable to attend. My husband and I enjoyed looking at the Moon together at home and I took some images with the little Seestar S50 telescope.

I hope everybody worldwide had an awesome night looking at our amazing Moon :-)

InOMN website at: https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/

If you observed the Moon or participated in an event download your own InOMN Participation Certificate at:
https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/participate/participation-certificate/

~ International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) 2025 ~

10/1/2025

Image Credit: NASA/Vi Nguyen

The Southern Astronomical Society is proudly hosting the International Observe the Moon Night
Saturday 4 October 2025 - 6-9 pm
Oxenford Pony Club
Charlies Crossing Rd N Charlies Crossing Park, Upper Coomera QLD 4209
https://www.sas.org.au

~ INTERNATIONAL OBSERVE THE MOON NIGHT (InOMN) 2025 ~

International Observe the Moon Night is an annual worldwide public engagement program that encourages observation, appreciation, and understanding of our Moon and its connection to NASA planetary science and exploration.

Everyone on Earth is invited to join the celebration by hosting or attending an event.
For more information about International Observe the Moon Night and how to get involved, visit moon.nasa.gov/observe.

You can download a lunar map to find your way around the Moon at:
https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/resources/moon-map/

I’ll be observing and taking pictures of our beautiful Moon from home this year, as I’m unable to be my fellow members at SAS, have fun everybody :-)

~ Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) low in western sky 21st September 2025 ~

9/21/2025

I managed to quickly set up the little Seestar S50 telescope just outside our cabin in town and capture this stunning comet low in the western sky.

It was not ideal conditions because of all the lights from the local hotel that was across the road…but I took the chance and I caught myself a beautiful comet :-)

I love the pretty green colour of the coma and its long delicate flyaway tail that stretched right up the sky. Images taken with a Seestar S50 telescope four images were stacked in DSS and very lightly processed in PS, the pretty green colour in the image is natural.

There is an excellent article from the UNSW in Australia that explains why comets heads are green by chemist Professor Timothy Schmidt, the link is at: https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2021/12/comets--heads-can-be-green--but-never-their-tails--after-90-year

~ Saturn at opposition in 2025 with its moons Titan and Rhea ~

9/21/2025

~ Gas Giants App ~

I’m out at my observatory this new moon weekend specifically to capture Saturn at opposition; the sky is just so clear and magnificent. Saturn looks so beautiful up in the night sky in the faint constellation of Pisces (The Fishes).

These images of Saturn were taken at opposition on the 20th September 2025 with my 10-inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain LX200 telescope using a ZWO ASI120 MC camera with a 3x Barlow lens attached. AVI video files were captured with 3000 frames then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

You can see two of Saturn’s moon very clearly in the image, the largest moon Titan is above the thin ring and Rhea is at the tip below the ring.

There is an excellent App called Gas Giants that helps identify Saturn’s satellites (also Jupiter) in real time, the ZWO Seestar App also gives excellent information which I’ve include here in my blog on Saturn’s opposition.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gas-giants/id397831483

I must say, I’m extremely happy with the detail in this image and the edge on rings in silhouette looks amazing :-)

~ September ‘Full Moon’ also know as a Corn Moon 7th September 2025 ~

9/7/2025

We had a lovely clear evening for moonrise, I took a lovely wide field image of the full Moon rising with the pretty pink and blue colours know as the Belt of Venus.

Once it got dark enough I took some more images with the Seestar S50 telescope, this full Moon in September is referred to as the ‘Corn Moon’ or sometimes if it’s close to the equinox date as the Harvest Moon.

Tonight’s full Moon will be a total eclipse of the Moon, but with my position here on the east coast of Australia we will only see a partial eclipse at 3.30am and finishing at 4.30am in the early morning of the 8th September 2025.

Footnote: I woke up to view the partial lunar eclipse, but only got a glimpse of it through heavy cloud, then it was gone completely, Oh well I tried :-)

~ Venus & Jupiter in a beautiful coloured dawn sky 17th August 2025 ~

8/17/2025

Oh my! It was just so beautiful this morning with the planets Venus and Jupiter close together among the stars of Gemini rising in the beautiful pastel colours of the dawn sky; it was just so calm and peaceful :-)

My image was taken with Canon G7X Mark 11 camera set on manual focus with 1 second exposure and ISO 2000.

~ How cute is this! Kids space LEGO ‘Stargazing with Celeste’ LEGO 77053 ~

8/7/2025

I was out shopping at BigW and came across this ever so cute little LEGO playset called ‘Stargazing with Celeste’ the little owl even has a telescope to look at the Moon, how cute is that!

The age group for this build is from 6 years old, it has quite a few tiny pieces so really I think an older person would have to supervise just to help the young child if it’s needed.

Some product details from LEGO below:
https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/stargazing-camping-vehicle-42603

Astronomy playset for kids who love creative role play – Stargazing with Celeste is a creative anytime treat for girls and boys aged 6 plus as well as fans of the Animal Crossing™ video game series.

Nature playset inspires imaginative play – Comes with a minifigure of Celeste the owl from Animal Crossing™, a telescope toy, astronomy book, campfire, teapot, cup, cupcake and precious star fragments.

Cosmic fun – Kids role-play learning how to use the telescope with Celeste and making a wish on a shooting star, before gathering the star fragments and decorating the crescent-moon chair.

More Space LEGO at:
https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/space-lego.html

~ Winter Solstice Sun in Southern Hemisphere 21st June 2025 ~

6/21/2025

Credit: Weatherzone at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au

~ Winter Solstice Sun in Southern Hemisphere 21st June 2025 ~

Today marks the Solstice here in the southern hemisphere in Australia and we are right in the middle of our winter, unlike the northern hemisphere that are now in the middle of their summer…it’s all to do with the tilt of our Earth and its captured orbit as it goes around our amazing star the Sun.

I only just got this image in a five minute break in the clouds because it’s been fully cloudy all day today! This is the beauty of this little Seestar S50 smart telescope within a few minutes after putting it down on the table it finds the Sun and I’m off taking image, just fantastic when all these clouds are about :-)

Images taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with its attached solar filter, a video was captured which was stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

~ Full Moon on 11th June 2025 also known as Strawberry Moon ~

6/14/2025

Every month we have a full moon as the moon orbits our planet, this full moon is known as the strawberry harvest moon as it lines up with the start of the strawberry season in the northern hemisphere.

Here in the southern hemisphere it’s known as the cold moon because we are in the middle of winter and it is close to our winter solstice. You’ll notice from my image that from here in the southern hemisphere the orientation of the moon appears to be upside down…it’s all a bit tricky isn’t it :-)

There was another very interesting astronomical fact about this June full moon and that is its position in the sky, which was positioned as the furthest point in the southern skies. This is know as lunar standstill and it happens every 18.6 years, the last time it occurred was in 2006 and it won’t happen again now until 4043.

Images taken a Seestar S50 telescope,
20 images were captured then stacked in Registax6 and processed in PS.

Credit: EQUINOX PUBLISHING LTD

If you would like to understand more about this celestial lunar movement please go to this paper
Written by Erica Ellingson and Fabio Silva at:
https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JSA/article/view/28181/28654