Category: - My Stardust Observatory

Partial Lunar Eclipse rising on the Gold Coast in QLD 14th March 2025

3/14/2025

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.

~ Wow! Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) in western sky at Mt Tamborine ~

1/21/2025

We were not expecting that!

I grabbed my husband and camera and raced up to the top of Mt Tamborine to try and see if we could see the comet…. and Wow, I spotted the comets tail still in the very light twilight sky, which was amazing. As it got a little darker it came out in all its glory :-D

It was a bit smoggy from a bush fire low on the horizon, and I think that’s why the coma area of the comet was glowing a golden colour.

Images were taken between 7.30 – 8pm 20th January 2025, with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 18-40mm lens on a tripod with exposures from a couple of seconds up to 30 seconds; ISO was from 200 to 1600.

~ Spectacular crepuscular rays at dawn (4.30am) 30th December 2024 ~

12/30/2024

I woke up very early this morning and looked out my bedroom window and Wow!

The eastern sky was just stunning; the dawn colours were amazing with beautiful crepuscular rays of light right up the horizon… I was off and running to grab my camera, what a way to start the day :-D

Image was taken with a Canon G7x M11 camera with manual focus, ISO 125 1/80th second exposure.

~ Jupiter in constellation of Taurus with Orion on 7th December 2024 ~

12/7/2024

We had a lovely clear evening here on the Gold Coast last night and just before I went to bed I peeked outside and saw brilliant Jupiter among the stars of Taurus (The Bull) with Orion riding above…. it looked just so lovely!

My picture may seem strange for people who live in the northern hemisphere because here in the land down under (Australia) we see these constellations rising and travelling across the sky upside down! Not only that, everything that rises in the east heads over to the northern sky…not the southern sky like it does for you :-D

Image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 18-400mm lens, 10-second exposure with ISO1000 at 10.30pm on the 7th December 2024.

Early morning Rainbow after thunderstorm (6.40am) 23rd November 2024

11/23/2024

I just love it when we have an early morning thunderstorm, I raced outside with my camera when the Sun peeked out in the eastern sky to see what was happening in the west, and there it was!
A beautiful rainbow to light up my day :-)

Image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 18-400mm lens with settings at 1/350th second and ISO200.

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

10/20/2024

~ 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

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

10/17/2024

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.

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

10/7/2024

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.

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

10/4/2024

~ 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

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

10/1/2024

~ 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