 There are quite a lot of small sunspot groups on the surface of the Sun today and most of them are following a path across the northern hemisphere with larger active sunspots AR 4455 & AR 4448 rotating toward the western limb. Image taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with its attached solar filter and processed in PS. 
0 Comments
 This is the second full Moon in the month of May, the first being on the 2nd May and now this full Moon on the 31st May 2026. Two full Moons in a calendar month now is commonly known as a ‘Blue Moon’ or once in a blue Moon because it doesn’t happen that often, perhaps only once every two to three years. This Moon is also an Apogee Moon or micro moon because it’s further away from us in its orbit about the Earth. I’ve also made a mineral Moon by adding some saturation so it shows the different colours of the minerals on the surface of the Moon. Image taken with a Seestar S50 telescope capturing a RAW movie file and stacking within the unit, then processed in PS.   The planets Venus and Jupiter are now getting closer and closer together for an amazing close conjunction on the 10th June 2026 from where I live here in Australia. No matter where you live on Earth, you must go outside and have a look in the western sky, you will not be disappointed in the view :-D I’ll be watching the sky and taking images whenever it’s clear enough to show how quickly Venus is moving along the ecliptic toward the largest planet in the solar system…there’s no chance of a collision as both planets are hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from one another. Mercury will also join the group very low on the western horizon in early June but I’ll have to travel up to Mt Tamborine to capture this elusive planet, as it cannot be seen here where I live because of the mountains and trees. My images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 28-400mm lens on a tripod; both images had an exposure of 6 seconds with ISO320 & ISO400.    ~ The solar surface with scattering of sunspots ~ It’s our first clear sunny day in weeks and it was a delight to see some larger sunspots on the surface of the Sun. My image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with its attached solar filter capturing a raw movie file and stacking within the unit. I’ve also found an easier way to find the Sun when the Seestar has trouble locating it, by manually slewing there and using a sun finder called Sol Searcher by Tele Vue :-D  ~ Venus, Jupiter & Crescent Moon ~ It’s always so beautiful to see the Moon and planets together in a twilight coloured sky, this conjunction with the crescent Moon and Venus, then with the planet Jupiter has just been lovely to view over the last couple of nights. The Orion constellation is now going down in the western sky, the Moon and Jupiter are both in the constellation of Gemini. My images were taken with a Canon 70D camera with a 28-400mm Tamron lens attached to a tripod.   ~ Venus & Moon Conjunction ~ After so many days of heavy rain the sky cleared enough to view this beautiful conjunction of Venus with a new 2-day-old crescent Moon in the early evening sky :- ) My images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and 28-400mm Tamron lens attached on a tripod.   ~ 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.
  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.  ~ 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/  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  |
AuthorI just love being under the heavens, come on a journey with me and I’ll share some of the amazing wonders of the Universe with you. Noeleen :-) 
Archives
June 2026
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed