Telescope: 1959 Vintage 40mm f/17.5 Unitron 127 Refractor

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC, GSO IR Filter

Exposure: 350×5msec, Gain 200, saved as SER

Seeing: Fair, 3/5

Software: SharpCap Pro, Autostakkert, Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

It was bitterly cold tonight, but I could resist trying to grab a picture of the gorgeous full Cold Moon. I needed something super simple and up to the task, so I grabbed my trusty old vintage 40mm f/17.5 Unitron 127 and added a ZWO ASI294MC camera using a 1.25” to 0.965” adapter. I made a simple modified Hartmann mask from a piece of aluminum foil and set the focus using Capella. I ythen moved over to the moon and grabbed a couple of SER image sets using Sharpcap Pro. While I had the scope out I swapped out the camera for a stock Unitron star diagonal and a 18mm Kelner eyepiece to take a peek at the moon and Jupiter. The moon looked fabulous and Jupiter looked classic showing all four Galilean moons, equatorial bands, and dark polar regions. Despite a set of frozen fingers, it was a lot of fun!

In a manner similar to what I showed previously with Uranus, this is a composite of 4 images taken with a Seestar S50 to see if I could observe some of the outer moons of Saturn. The source images were taken on 11/12 (19h52m), 11/13 (19h19m), 11/14 (21h04m) and 11/16 (20h19m), EST. Each source image was 30x10sec centered on Saturn using the Seestar Stargazing mode. The star fields of each image were first aligned to given them a common field orientation, and then they were aligned on Saturn. Blinking the fields allowed me to discriminate between the moons and stars. I kept the stars in the first field (11/12), carefully removed the stars from the other fields, and then merged them into a single, flat image. The bright inner moons are easy to see as they lie in a nearly straight line. These include Dione (Mv 10.5), Rhea (Mv 9.8), and Titan (Mv 8.4). These orbit Saturn so quickly it’s hard to follow them with overlaid as shown here and there are multiple images of each. Mimas, Enceladus and Tethys are hiding in the glare of Saturn. In line with the inner moons and to the lower left is the more distant moon Hyperon (Mv 14.3). On close examination there are 4 images of Hyperon, but on the first 3 evenings it passed through greatest eastern elongation and 2 of the images are nearly on top of each other. Off to the right is Iapetus which moved from upper left to lower right during this sequence. Iapetus varies in brightness from Mv 10.2 at greatest western elongation to 11.9 at greatest eastern elongation and at the time these images were taken it was near the brighter node. I’d like to see if I can follow Iapetus all the way around its 79 day orbit, but that may have to wait until next year.

Neat Stuff.

This is the first sequence of test images from a new project to see if I can take at least basic images of some of the satellites of the outer planets using my Seestar S50. I chose Uranus as the first test subject as the planet itself isn’t too bright and the orbits of its principal moons are facing in our general direction so you can see them moving in a nearly circular path around the planet. The images below summarize my observations on 6 consecutive evenings from 11/12/2025 through 11/17/2025. The specific dates and times (EST) include (from center to upper right) 11/12 (20h29m), 11/13 (20h29m), 11/14 (20h55m), 11/15 (22h46m) 11/16 (21h00m), and 11/17 (21h29m). Each source image was a 30x10sec field centered on Uranus taken using the Seestar’s Stargazing mode. These were aligned and combined in Photoshop.

The first composite image shows the field aligned on the stars showing the apparent motion of Uranus against the background stars. If you look closely you can see two moons that travel along with Uranus and shift their positions around the planet each night. The closer of the two is Titania (Mv 13.7) and the outer is Oberon (Mv 13.9). I initially thought that I also caught Umbriel (Mv 14.6) but it is likely hiding just within the glare of the planet. The second composite image shows the field aligned on the planet showing the motion of the two satellites around the planet.

Neat stuff.

This image combines 3 fields captured with my Seestar S50 showing the position of the asteroid (433) Eros on the evenings of 10/12, 10/13, and 10/14/2025. From lower right to upper left the specific times were 10/12 20h51m-22h54m EDT (1.5 hours), 10/13 20h58m-22h58m EDT (2 hours), and 10/14 20h51m-22h54m EDT (2 hours). Each source field was centered on Eros using the position indicated by Starry Night Pro. (The positions from the Seestar and Sky Safari are often inaccurate.) The images straight from the Seestar (stacks of 10sec subs) were aligned and combined in Photoshop and then cropped.

At the time these images were taken, Eros was about 46 million miles away shining at Mv 9.7 about 5 degrees northwest of Almach in Andromeda.

Every year I like to make a pilgrimage to the frozen outlands of the solar system to grab a set of images of Pluto to pay homage to Clyde Tombaugh who discovered Pluto while working at the Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1930. Over the years I have done this with a variety of telescopes including my little ETX-60. This year I was curious whether it could be one my with my Seestar S50 in part because I’d like to use my Seestars for observing asteroids. As it turned out, the S50 worked quite well! This image combines 4 fields showing the position of Pluto on the evenings of 9/27, 9/28, 9/29 and 9/30/2025 at about 10:00 EDT. Each field was approximately 30m x 10s images taken using the Seestar stargazing mode. If you look closely near the center of this image you can see 4 ‘stars’ evenly spaced in a nearly straight line. That’s Pluto as it moved from left to right over the 4 nights of this series. When these images were taken Pluto was 3.2 billion miles distant in the constellation of Capricornus shining at magnitude 14.5.

This image combines 3 fields captured with my Seestar S30 showing the position of the asteroid (2) Pallas on the evenings of 9/18, 9/19, and 9/20/2025 at about 10:00 EDT. Each field was approximately 30m x 10s images taken using the Seestar’s framing mode set to 1.5x. The location of the asteroid is marked with a small red ‘V’ with the location shown on 9/18-9/20 from top to bottom. The track is offset from the center o the field as the actual location of the asteroid was offset from the location indicated by the Seestar. Unfortunately, inaccurate asteroid positions is fairly common and I have noted that the Seestar sky atlas and Sky Safari give inaccurate locations. In contrast, the locations given by Starry Night Pro are quite good.

Bookends! The Waxing & Waning Gibbous Moon Before/After the Harvest Moon.

It was cloudy the evening of the Harvest Moon & barely there partial lunar eclipse, but it was clear the night before and after. I ended up with images taken almost exactly 24 hours before and 24 hours after the full Harvest Moon.

Waxing/Waning Gibbous Moon – 9/16/2024 22h 37m & 9/18/2024 22h 42m EDT

Telescope: GSO CC45 (4.5” Classical Cassegrain) @ f/12, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, Baader Mk III MPCC, GSO IR Filter

Exposure: 75% of 128×1/1000 sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Seeing: Fair, 3/5

Software: Backyard EOS, Nebulosity, Autostakkert, Registax, Photoshop

Telescope: Astro-Tech RC8 @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, Baader Mk III MPCC, GSO IR Filter

Exposure: 50×1/640 sec, ISO 800, saved as RAW

Seeing: Fair, 3/5

Software: Backyard EOS, Nebulosity, Autostakkert, Registax, Photoshop

Just a quick peek at the moon between targets on a warm spring evening.

Telescope/Camera: Seestar S50

Filter: None

Exposure: (60 + 60)x10sec (20min) saved as FITS

Average Light Pollution: Bortle 8, fair transparency at dusk

Software: Nebulosity, Photoshop

This is another quick grab of Comet 12/Pons-Brooks before it got too far down in the before it was lost to the haze and light pollution over my western horizon. This images is the combination of subs taken over a 10-minute period through two Seestar S50s operating in parallel. As the images were being taken the comet dropped from 19 degrees over the horizon to just 17 degrees. Although the comet was an easy target for the Seestar, it was really tough to see in my 10×50 binoculars.