Category: Education - My Stardust Observatory

~ Huge Prominence on the western limb of Sun 3rd July 2025 ~

7/3/2025

What a surprise to see this huge prominence of the western limb of the Sun today with delicate sprays of plasma being ejected away from the solar surface… it was a beauty!

Images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and Canon 700D camera with 2x Barlow lens attached. Two sets of images were taken with different exposure times then stacked in RegiStax6 and combined in PS.

The monochrome image is not a composite image it was just processed in PS.

~ 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.

~ Large sunspot group AR 4115 on surface of Sun 16th June 2025 ~

6/16/2025

There is another large sunspot group on the solar surface that is very active and will most likely produce a CME in the next couple of days.

While taking my images high cloud came across the sky and produced a lovely solar halo around the Sun, I took these images through a thin layer of cloud.

Images taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with the attached solar filter at 1x and 2x magnification, 20 images captured which were stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

~ Huge solar prominence ejects on north western limb of the Sun ~

6/14/2025

~ Huge Prominence on Sun ~
14th June 2025

I got such a wonderful surprise today when I set up my Lunt (Ha) solar telescope to have a look at the Sun…Wow, right there before my eyes was a stunning prominence firing away on the north western limb of the Sun.

Earlier in the day I had taken some white light images with the little Seestar telescope with the attached solar filter.

The (Ha) images were taken with a Lunt 60mm solar telescope and a Canon 700D camera, 20 images each were captured then stacked in Registax6 and processed in PS.

This is a composite image, as you need two different timed exposures to capture the disc of the Sun and the faint prominence.

To find out what the daily Sun is doing everyday please go to the National Solar Observatory website at:
https://gong2.nso.edu/products/tableView/table.php?configFile=configs/hAlpha.cfg

Credit: NSO GONG H-Alpha data

~ 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

~ The Sun our awesome Star at Helensvale Library 16th May 2025 ~

5/17/2025

Presented by Noeleen Lowndes from the Southern Astronomical Society
https://www.sas.org.au
https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/libraries/Home

What a lovely morning I had with all the people from the Savvy Seniors group at the Helensvale Library here on the Gold Coast.

I was invited again to give a presentation on astronomy and this time because of solar activity on the Sun during this year of solar maximum; I chose to talk about our awesome Sun.

These presentations are always a lot of fun because I can show and talk about all my solar images, and then enlighten people on how important this celestial object is for life on our planet Earth.

A great day was had by all, Noeleen :-)

~ Large sunspot group AR 4079 on 8th May 2025 ~

5/8/2025

~ Sunspot AR4079 ~

Large sunspot group AR 4079 is now heading toward the western limb of the Sun; it’s quite amazing that this area on the solar surface has not released all that energy!

Images were taken with the little Seestar S50 telescope with attached solar filter (as shown) twenty images were captured and stacked in Registax6 and processed in PS.

~ Wow! The Sun with huge sunspot AR 4079 on 6th May 2025 ~

5/6/2025

Wow! Sunspot AR 4079
Wow! That sure is a huge sunspot on the surface of the Sun :-o

We’ll just have to wait and see whether it is going to unleash its awesome power in the next couple of days :-)

Images were taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with attached solar filter, 20 images captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS. The second image is magnified x2 times.

~ Mars in Constellation of Cancer near Beehive open star cluster M44 ~

5/1/2025

I’m out at my Stardust Observatory for the long new Moon weekend and finally we have had a few evenings of clear sky. The red planet Mars is now in the constellation of Cancer and moving towards the Beehive cluster also known as M44.

I’ve taken a wide field image of the planet among the stars of Cancer using Canon 70D camera with a 70-200mm Canon Lens attached to my tracking telescope in the observatory on Sunday the 28th April at 8pm.

20 x 2-minute images with corresponding dark frames were captured with ISO 1250, then stacked in Deep Sky Stacker (DSS) and processed in PS.

~ Mars taken with Meade 10” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope ~
Mars is looking very small now in the 10inch telescope, captured the planet with a ZWO ASI 120MC planetary camera with attached 3x Barlow lens.

You can just make out the polar cap at the bottom of the planet and some dark marking can still be seen on the surface.

Information on my Stellarium App states that Mars currently is 6.70” in diameter is at 0.90% phase and its distance is now 1.40AU. Stellarium App at: https://stellarium-labs.com/stellarium-mobile-plus/

I use this FREE App all the time for my sky observation, its excellent!

~ The Beehive Star Cluster also known as (M44)& NGC 2632 ~
In the constellation of Cancer (The Crab)

This image was taken with the little Seestar S50 smart telescope when I was at my Stardust Observatory on the evening of the 28th April 2025.

I thought it would be fun to see what this little telescope could do in a really dark sky and I was most impressed! Not only does it show the subtle colours of the stars if you look closely into the image you can see a tiny spiral galaxy designation as UGC 4526, its magnitude is a remarkable 14.06…now that’s very faint.

It’s estimated that this star cluster is about 600 light years away from Earth.

For more information about the Beehive Cluster (M44) please go to the link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_(constellation)

Credit: IAU star map of Cancer

~ Waning Gibbous Moon (19 days old) on 18th April 2025 ~

4/18/2025

The waning gibbous Moon shows the Tycho crater to the top and the prominent dark Maria of Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) and Sea Of Rains (Mare Imbrium). You can also see the bright ray craters of Copernicus, Kepler & Aristarchus at this illumination phase of 19days old.

Images taken with Seestar S50 telescope, twenty images captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

NOTE: I really think this little smart telescope does a great job of taking images of the Moon :-)