~ (Perigee) Super Full Moon on the 5th December 2025 ~
 
The full Moon was a lovely golden colour as it was rising low in the north eastern sky on the 5th December 2025.
 
In the northern hemisphere this is called a ‘Cold Moon’ but when you have over 34 degree heat here in SE Queensland at this time of the year, I’d like to call it a ‘Hot Hot Moon ‘  ;-)
 
Taking images a few hours later when it was a lot higher in the sky it now shows its usual silvery colour on the surface.
 
Over the last few months we’ve had a lot of Perigee Full Moons, where our lunar companion has been closer to our planet from January this will start to reverse and the Moon in its orbit will be further away heading toward Apogee (furthest point)
 
There is approximately a 50,000 km distance that the Moon can orbit away from our planet either being closer or further away but because of gravity it will always be best buddies with Earth as we orbit together in space around the Sun :-)
 
Images were taken with a Seestar S50mm telescope capturing 20 images and stacking them in RegiStax6 and process in PS.

I only just managed to get this image of the full Moon this evening before thunderstorms rolled in. This full Moon in November is also a Perigee Moon, which means it’s a Super Moon and is closer to the Earth in its orbit.
 
My images were taken with a Seestar S50 telescope, 20 images were captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS, please note that the image is not as sharp because of cloud in the sky but at least I captured it :-D
 
To read more about the science behind Super moons please go to Science at NASA website at: https://science.nasa.gov/moon/supermoons/
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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.

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/
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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 :-)

Tonight looked absolutely beautiful with the golden moonlight being reflected on the water as the Moon was rising, just 12 hours previously in the early morning there was a partial eclipse of the Moon.
 
I was unable to take any pictures of the eclipse, as the sky was cloudy, this lovely view makes up for it :-)
 
My image was taken with Canon 70D camera and a 28-400mm Tamron lens on a tripod; exposure time was 3 seconds, ISO200.

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 :-)

~ View of 1st Quarter Moon (7 day old) as seen from Southern & Northern Hemispheres on 31st August 2025 ~
 
It’s very interesting how people of the world see how the Moon rises in relation to where they are on the surface of the Earth. In Australia we are in the southern hemisphere so when the Moon rises we view the south of the Moon to the top and the north to the bottom.
 
The Moon also heads over to the northern sky during the night, where as in the northern hemisphere the Moon heads over to the southern sky; this always throws me when visiting the northern hemisphere as the Moon is also upside down, tricky isn’t it  ;-)
 
Don’t get me stared on the northern hemisphere constellation that we share; yes they are also upside down here in Australia, so if you are visiting us here down under be in for a nice surprise trying to work it all out :-)
 
Images taken with a Seestar S50 telescope, 20 images were captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.

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
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~ Waxing Gibbous (12 day old) Moon with bright ray systems of Tycho & Copernicus craters ~
On the 5th August 2025 ~

Tycho crater is a very prominent crater, it’s one of the youngest on the lunar surface, and its approximate age is about 100 million years, that’s very young compared with the total age of the Moon at over 4 billion years old!
 
From after the 9-day-old phase you’ll start to see more and more of this ray system that’s connected to the ejected material that was produced from the impact that caused Tycho crater. By the full Moon phase (14 days old) you can trace the distance of these many ejected rays to over 1500 km across the lunar surface.
 
The other large impact crater seen here not far off the termination line is the crater Copernicus, which has a complex terraced wall with a large central mountain range in the middle. You can spend a lot of time at the eyepiece just looking around this area, as the detail is just incredible!
 
An excellent book that I use that teaches me everything I need to know about the Moon is
Hamlyn ‘Atlas of the Moon’ by Antonin Rukl.
 
Every night the Moon offers up so much to see as the sunlight illuminates different features along the termination line right up to the full Moon phase, then after that you get to see everything in reverse with all the light and shadows going in the opposite direction.
 
My image was taken with the little Seestar S50 telescope, 25 images were captured then stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS.