 Active Sunspot AR 4549 is now heading toward the western limb of the Sun with another large sunspot showing itself on the eastern limb that’s just been designed AR 4551 Image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with the attached solar filter capturing a RAW movie file and stacking within the unit then processed in PS. 
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 It was a beautiful evening to watch this lovely full Moon rising just a few days after the spring equinox on the 23rd September 2026 (as seen here in the Southern Hemisphere).
This full Moon is also known as a Harvest Moon named for the Northern Hemisphere, image taken with a Seestar S50 telescope, a RAW movie file was captured and processed within the unit then processed in PS.  You can just make out an unnumbered sunspot on the eastern limb of the Sun! ~Nearly sunspot free Sun ~
I rushed out yesterday to take a picture of what I thought was a sunspot free Sun, but on checking my images today there’s a sneaky little sunspot showing itself on the eastern limb…Ha-ha Oh well… as least I tried :-) Image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with the attached solar filter capturing a RAW movie file and stacking within the unit, processed in PS.
I’m just going to put this out there in case I may have capture the tumbling satellite USA 32 in the early hours of the 15th September at 1.28am (AEST) 14th September (UTC/GMT) 15.28pm as seen in the southern sky. After reading about the event on Spaceweather.com this morning, I thought I would share what I captured in case it was important… I was busy capturing an image of the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus) that’s in the Large Magellanic Cloud with the Seestar S50 telescope just after midnight. After approximately 30 minutes I saved an image and did a screen shot, then proceeded to continue with the exposure for another 30 minutes until 1.28am. When I looked at the image again there was a streak of a satellite or plane that had ruined my picture, so I ended the photo session and didn’t really think much of it except I wondered what it could be as you don’t usually see satellites or planes at that very early time in the morning??? But being at a height of 775km above the Earth (as stated on Spaceweather.com see below) perhaps it was capturing sunlight at that time of night? https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=17&month=09&year=2026 Also it does not really look like a plane trail as there is no definite white and red flash line that usually is produced with longer exposures, this streak is quite uniform with a white flash and dot. I don't know which direction it came from but you can see it faded off with it coming into view or going away? Anyway, I thought I would post it, please be kind, as I’ve only posted it in case the trajectory passed over South East Queensland at this time. Of course it may be a lone plane flying very high up in the sky, but I was out west in the country at my Stardust Observatory and usually planes are not operational at that time of the night here, best wishes to all, Noeleen :-D  Credit: Spaceweather.com  On the September new Moon weekend I took some beautiful images of Saturn at my Stardust Observatory with my Meade 10inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and Saturn’s rings are now back in view :-) Saturn’s opposition for 2026 is in a couple of weeks time on the 4th October so now is the best time to view and capture Saturn while it’s the brightest and closest to our Earth. How exciting to see Saturn’s beautiful rings back in view because this time last year the rings were nearly edge on and so thin that they nearly disappeared! This only happens every 13 to 15 years and I was so lucky to capture the event in both September and November 2025. Please see my blog posts below: Blog post for September 2025 where rings have nearly disappeared: https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-saturn-at-opposition-in-2025-with-its-moons-titan-and-rhea Blog post where Saturn’s rings were at there thinnest: https://www.mystardustobservatory.com/astro-blog/-saturns-rare-ring-plane-crossing-on-the-23rd-november-2025 When taking pictures of the planets, it’s best to wait until the planet is high up in the sky where the air is usually a lot steadier and even then it’s a bit hit and miss as the sky can look perfect but still the planet wobbles and jumps around because of aerosols high up in the atmosphere. If you’re patient you may get a few minutes of steady sky to capture images, it really is a waiting game but well and truly worth it :-D I also captured four of Saturn’s satellite moons by over exposure the planet with the largest moon Titan to the bottom and forming a triangle, the moons Dione, Rhea and Tethys to the right of the rings. My images were taken with a 10inch LX200 Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and ZWO ASI120 Mc planetary camera with 3xbarlow attached. AVI files were captured with 3000 frames that were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS. Please note: With the wide field image below of Saturn and its moons I replaced the overexposed image of Saturn with the correct exposed image taken just before this image was captured. ~ Saturn with its moons Titan, Dione, Rhea & Tethys ~
(At 10.54pm (AEST) 14th September 2026)   ~ Conjunction of 3 day old crescent Moon with Venus in constellation of Virgo on the 14th September 2026 ~ I’m at my Stardust Observatory at Leyburn for the long weekend and this was the beautiful view just after sunset looking toward the western horizon. You can see the 3-day-old crescent Moon is having a close conjunction with the planet Venus on the ecliptic; the star below the Moon is Spica (Alpha Virginis). I’ve also zoomed in with the camera lens to get a closer view of the conjunction; images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and 18-400mm Tamron lens on a tripod. I also took an image of Venus with the Meade 10inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with a ZWO ASI120 MC camera plus 3x Barlow lens attached. Captured a 3000-frame video, which was stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in Photoshop…what a beautiful evening it was :-)   ~ International Observe the Moon Night ~ 19th September 2026 https://www.sas.org.au Southern Astronomical Society is holding an event Please scan the QR Code for more information  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 go: https://science.nasa.gov/moon/observe-the-moon-night/  The full moon in August is called a Sturgeon Moon; again this moon is named after events happening in the northern hemisphere from the Old Farmers Almanac. The Native Americans knew that the giant sturgeon (fish) of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught during this full Moon and so named this month’s full moon after that event. I’m sure we here in Australia must have some event where August full Moon can be celebrated, must look into that :-D Image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope capturing a RAW movie file and stacking images in the unit, then processing in PS. had a bit of fun with the image ;-) Lunar Eclipse Moon A few hours before taking this image many people witnessed a nearly full total lunar eclipse at 96%, it was all over by the time we saw the full moon rising here in Australia. Lots of beautiful photo are on the Spaceweather.com website at: https://spaceweathergallery2.com/index.php?title=eclipse  ~ Image taken with Seestar S50 telescope ~  The only sunspot that’s quite active on the surface of the Sun is AR 4513; it produced a M7- class solar flare on the 25th August so by today a CME may arrive for people to enjoy in those Arctic and Antarctic latitudes :-D Image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with the attached solar filter capturing a movie, which was stacked in the unit and processed in PS.   Roman is set to launch August 30, 2026 at 07:26 am EDT (AEST (Australia) – 9:20 PM) on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/ Education information on the Nancy Grace Roman mission at: https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/missions/rst/education/Final%20Roman%20Press%20Kit-508compliant.pdf Time information taken from Zendar Universe website at:
https://zendaruniverse.com/updates/roman-space-telescope-launch-time-aug-30-2026-ist-live-watch-guide/ Last Updated: July 28, 2026 | By Dr. Jean-Luc Moreau. NASA has officially confirmed the roman space telescope launch time for Sunday, August 30, 2026, at 7:20 a.m. EDT. For viewers in India, the roman telescope launch time is 4:50 p.m. Liftoff will occur aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This highly anticipated launch comes roughly eight months ahead of NASA's previous "no later than May 2027" commitment. The observatory arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on June 21, 2026, aboard NASA's Pegasus barge from Goddard via Baltimore. Fueling was successfully completed on July 25, 2026, with 290 gallons of hydrazine loaded at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. Roman Space Telescope Launch Time in IST and Global Time Zones Coordination is critical for a mission of this magnitude. The nancy grace roman space telescope launch date is set for a precise orbital window, allowing the spacecraft to efficiently begin its journey to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2. Global launch times include: EDT (Florida) – 7:20 AM UTC – 11:20 AM IST (India) – 4:50 PM BST (UK) – 12:20 PM CEST (Europe) – 1:20 PM PDT (US West) – 4:20 AM GST (Dubai) – 3:20 PM SGT (Singapore) – 7:20 PM JST (Japan) – 8:20 PM AEST (Australia) – 9:20 PM |
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 :-) 
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