August 2025 Summary
August started off in a rather frustrating way as many
predicted “clear” nights turned out to be anything but. As most Augusts, I
spent a lot of time trying to catch meteors on camera, with varying degrees of
success. Many days and nights were lost to cloud but, overall, it was an
excellent month.
Sun
If you observed or photographed the sun on the right day,
you would have thought it was a solar maximum. If you looked on the wrong day,
you would have thought it was a solar minimum. It was simply because one half
of the sun was alive with sunspots and the other had hardly any.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54721249634/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54730153050/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54741546955/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54750223735/in/dateposted-public/
Moon
The moon is not well-placed for evening viewing in August
from England. However, I had some clear sky before and after the full moon.
Also, some adjustments to my photographic techniques with the Seestar S50 led
to a bumper month for lunar images. Towards the end of the month, the moon was
especially low in the sky in the days leading up to first quarter, so I was
unable to take any photos.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54703508381/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54703715223/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54720371857/in/album-72177720328144588
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54721426519/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54721426524/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54722205561/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54722525018/in/album-72177720328144588
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729677666/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54728846402/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729677661/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729891438/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54730211725/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729932501/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729932586/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54730284505/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54734368248/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54735199258/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729932586/in/album-72177720328144588
Planets
I photographed Saturn’s rings and with some of its moons.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729610928/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54729842481/in/album-72177720328144588
I photographed Neptune as a small dot against the background
stars.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54734081393/in/album-72177720328144588
Constellations
I took one constellation shot, showing Ursa Minor, Cepheus
and Cassiopeia.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54725490248/in/album-72177720328144588
Deep Sky
I did not take many deep sky
photographs in August until near the end of the month.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54723410421/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54723435916/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54730322370/in/album-72177720328144588
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54738140006/in/album-72177720328144588/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54740066922/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54743126046/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54750220863/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54759654949/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54759736229/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54759767404/in/dateposted-public/
Transient Events
Although I photographed many meteors, most but not all from
the Perseid shower, only one was notable, although I saw two nice ones that I
did not catch on camera.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54698095149/in/album-72177720328144588
Photo Gallery
A link to my August 2025 photo gallery follows:
August 31st 2100 GMT Deep Sky
I used the Seestar S50 to recapture some Messier objects
with longer integration times. My first target was the globular star cluster M2. I stacked 6 integration runs, up to 30 minutes, using Deep Sky Stacker.
I stacked four integration runs with the Seestar S50, using Sequator, for a total integration time of 53 minutes.I did 7 integration runs on M11 with the Seestar S50, with a maximum integration time of 14 minutes. I stacked them in Deep Sky Stacker.I did 6 integration runs on M34 with the Seestar S50 for a total time of 80 minutes.August 31st 1400 GMT Sun
It was a stormy day, with heavy showers punctuated by odd short periods of sunshine. Rather than carry telescopes outside, only for cloud to move back in, I checked the sun with my 15x70 binoculars and solar filters. Although the professional observatories showed some areas as multiple sunspots, my binoculars saw them as large, single sunspots. It was nice to see an active sun, though.
August 29th 2100 GMT Deep Sky
I had a deep sky session with the Seestar S50, starting with the
galaxy NGC 7331 in Pegasus. It had produced a supernova but I decided to revisit it
anyway, as I found it an interesting spiral galaxy. There was a faint hint that the supernova had not faded away completely but it was inconclusive. I stacked 5 integration runs for a total time of 120 minutes.
Staying in Pegasus, I photographed the elliptical galaxy NGC 7217 with the Seestar S50. I stacked 3 integration runs for a total time of 43 minutes.
I did a 5 minute integration run as a "sighter" for the next target.I tried to capture Melotte 20. Despite using Framing mode with the Seestar S50, I only captured the central part. I stacked 4 integration runs for a total time of 358 minutes.
August 28th 2320 GMT Binocular Session
The Seestar S50 was still capturing M33 and I had completed
a camera session. I was out with my 15x70 binoculars.
Melotte 20 looked rather nice, with the cluster filling my
binocular field of view.
The Pleiades (M45) were still low down in the murk, so I
could only see about 20 stars.
M31 showed a central core and fuzzy surroundings but nothing
like what the recent Seestar S50 image showed.
M33 was fuzzy with no clear core, again nothing like the
Seestar S50 image.
Saturn did not show any signs of moons.
The Perseus Double Cluster looked superb against the Milky
Way background.
I potted my usual summer double stars, having not done so
for a while. Albireo, Epsilon and Delta Lyrae, Nu Draconi and Mizar/Alcor all
split cleanly.
Being high in the sky, the Milky Way around Cygnus was
amazing, with lots of what appeared to be star clusters but were condensation
of Milky Way stars.
Although sinking low to the west, the globular cluster M13
showed well but nothing as good as the Seestar S50 image. The other globular
cluster on Hercules, M92 was visible but not impressive.
August 27th 2230 GMT Melotte 20 and M45
I took several exposures each of the star clusters Melotte
20 and M45 with my DSLR camera at 150mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 3 seconds
exposure.
I caught the Perseus Double Cluster instead, which I had a better photograph with the Seestar S50 earlier in the month.
I found a shot of Melotte 20 when trying to find it. I was out of practice at these shots, due to my obsession with the Seestar S50.
I stacked 24 images for M45.
August 27th 2215 GMT Saturn
While the Seestar S50 was trying to capture M33, I used the
DSLR camera at 300mm focal length. ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure to capture
Saturn in the hope of detecting some moons. I didn't.
August 27th 2251 GMT Meteor
I saw a bright sporadic meteor of about magnitude -2
travelling south east through Andromeda.
August 27th 2100 GMT M33
I used M31 as a sighter then used Framing mode on the
Seestar S50 to attempt to capture M33.
I also caught two of Saturn's moons but the planet was very overexposed.
August 27th 2345 GMT Saturn
I captured Saturn with the Seestar S50 at 4x zoom.
I tried to use Stargazing mode to photograph the moons but
it did not work. I went back to Solar System mode and increased the brightness,
trying that instead. None appeared.
August 26th 1100 Sun
This time, the weather forecast was wrong in my favour!
There was bright sunshine and I saw that new activity had rotated on with the
Seestar S50.
I took a closeup shot with the Seestar S50 at 4x zoom that
showed all of the sunspots.
August 26th Saturn and Pleiades
The forecast was for a clear night but there was a lot of
scattered thin cloud. I managed to capture Saturn with the Seestar S50 but no
moons.
I used the Seestar S50 to have a go at the Pleiades (a.k.a.
M45 or Seven Sisters) in Framing mode. I stacked 7 integration runs for a total integration time of 97 minutes. I looked forward to revisiting the star cluster later in the year.
August 25th 1100 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50 but thin, moving
cloud ruined the image.
I zoomed in by 4x with the Seestar S50 and photographed the
only sunspot group.
The cloud then cleared enough with the Seestar S50 for me to
take some full disc shots at 1x zoom.
August 24th 2130 GMT Andromeda Galaxy
Conditions were far from ideal but I had held off trying the
Andromeda Galaxy (M31) for a while with the Seestar S50 but I could resist the
urge no longer. I stacked 6 images in Deep Sky Stacker for a total of 420 minutes.
August 24th 0730 GMT Sun
The Sun was low enough in the sky to use my Mak and DSLR. I
took some full disc shots.
August 23rd 2310 GMT Deep Sky
I had another go at photographing M101 with the Seestar S50. This did not work again.
I switched to the double star Nu Draconi with the Seestar S50. It split cleanly using Stargazing mode and did not need a switch to Scenery mode.
I stacked 5 images with the Seestar S50 for a total integration time of 58 minutes.
August 22nd 1420 GMT Sun
Against the weather forecast, there was bright sunshine. I
photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50. The sun was quiet with just one
large and one small sunspot.
I zoomed in to 4x with the Seestar S50 and took a
regional shot.
August 21st 2130 GMT Deep Sky
I returned to Ursa Major with the Seestar S50 to have another go at some
galaxies.
First was M81 that also showed M82. I stacked 6 images for a total integration time of 185 minutes. I cleared the distortion in GraXpert and finished in GIMP.
Then I tried M101. This did not work as that part of the sky was partially cloudy.
As it was clear around M31, I decided to have a go at M32 with the Seestar S50. I did not have enough time to do a long framing run on M31. I stacked 3 images for a total integration time of 78 minutes. A large part of M31 is visible.
August 20th 2140 GMT M82 and M81
My plan was to photograph some galaxies in Ursa Major with
the Seestar S50.
First was M82. I stacked four images for a total integration time of 122 minutes.
I started on M81 but cloud rolled in before I could get a
decent exposure.
August 17th 0025 GMT Moon
The Moon was in the east. I took some full disc shots with
the Seestar S50.
I
took some regional lunar shots at 4x zoom with the Seestar S50.August 16th 2220 GMT Moon
The Moon was very low in the east. I took some full disc
shots with the Seestar S50.
I increased the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x and took some
regional lunar shots.
August 16th 0030 GMT Moon
The Moon had finally cleared some houses and I did a full
disc shoot with the Seestar S50.
I used Hamal as a sighter.
I set the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x to take some
regional lunar shots.
August 16th 2300 GMT Saturn
I photographed Saturn with moons and alone with the Seestar
S50.
August 15th 2115 GMT Meteor Hunt
I had another go at photographing the Perseid meteor shower, more in hope than expectancy!
At 2119 GMT, I caught a faint sporadic meteor at the right of the photo, a result of sorts.
I processed 10 images as a by-product of the meteor hunt with my DSLR set at 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure.At 2134 GMT I caught a short trail Perseid meteor in Cassiopeia.At 2210 GMT I caught a bright short trail Perseid meteor near the radiant.At 2301 GMT I caught a faint Perseid near the top of the image.At 0056 GMT I caught a sporadic meteor near the bottom of the image.August 15th 1040 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50. It seemed very
quiet but there was a lot of activity that had rotated onto the far side.
August 15th 0425 GMT Venus and Jupiter
I had missed the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter but they
were still close in the sky. I photographed them with my phone camera at 10x
zoom.
August 14th 2310 GMT Saturn, Moon and Deep Sky
I had trouble finding the Moon, which is not unusual. I
tried Saturn first with the Seestar S50, zoomed to 4x to capture the rings.
I increased the brightness of the Seestar S50 to capture
Saturn's moons. I knew that the brightest was Titan but I did not know whether
the others were moons or background stars.
Having found Saturn with the Seestar S50, it was easy to
capture the Moon.
I increased the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x and took some
lunar closeups.
It was not good conditions for deep sky photography but I
had a go with the Seestar S50 at the Perseus Double Cluster. I did a single integration run of 29 minutes, tidied in GraXpert and finished in GIMP.
The bright "star" in the centre of this image is Neptune. This was taken with the Seestar S50.
I photographed Gamma Arietis with the Seestar S50. As it is a close double star, I found it in Stargazing mode, then switched to Scenery mode and set the zoom to 4x.
I photographed NGC1491with the Seestar S50. I stacked four images with a total integration time of 49 minutes.
August 14th 2200 GMT Meteor Hunt
I had yet another go at trying to photograph Perseid meteors, using my usual setup. I did not capture any. Again!
August 13th 2210 GMT Meteor Hunt
I had another go at trying to photograph Perseid meteors,
using my usual setup. I did not capture any.
At 2354 GMT, technically on August 14th, I saw a Perseid of about magnitude -1 travelling south west.
August 13th 2352 GMT Visual Meteor
I saw a bright meteor of about magnitude -1 pass through Perseus, a Perseid.
August 13th 2315 GMT Moon and Saturn
I took some shots of the Moon with my Seestar S50.
I increased the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x to capture
some regional shots.
I shot Saturn with the Seestar S50 at 4x zoom to capture the
planet and at higher exposure to capture Titan.
I tried the Moon with Saturn with my phone camera. It did not work, probably due to moonlight drowning out Saturn.
I tried the Moon with Saturn with my DSLR camera at 55mm
focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/40 second exposure.
August 12th 2100 GMT Meteor Hunt
Despite the date, I did not hunt grouse but meteors instead. I used my standard method of a DSLR camera
set to take repeated 6 second exposures at 18mm focal length and ISO 6400.
I caught a faint Perseid shower meteor at 2210 GMT.
At 2246 GMT I caught a brighter sporadic meteor above Cassiopeia.At 2248 GMT I caught a very faint meteor and no image enhancement could do anything with it.August 12th 1110 GMT SunI took some full disc shots of the Sun with my Seestar S50 and stacked them.
I set the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x to take some closer shots of the sunspots.
August 10th 2300 GMT Moon and Deep Sky
I photographed the Moon with my Seestar S50.
I increased the zoom to 4x to capture some regional lunar
closeups with the Seestar S50.
I aimed the Seestar S50 at the Crescent Nebula. I stacked 7 images for a total integration time of 335 minutes.
I photographed Mirfak (Alpha Persei) but did not catch much of Melotte 20, as the field of view was nowhere near wide enough.
I stacked four images for a total of 51 minutes integration time with the Seestar S50 on the planetary nebula M76.
August 10th 2125 GMT Meteor Hunt
Conditions were very similar to the evening before but at
least I could see Cassiopeia. I decided to proceed with a meteor hunt, hoping
to catch a Perseid meteor.
I caught one at 0012 GMT, I caught one. The photo is fuzzy because of cloud.
August 9th 2200 GMT Moon
Thin cloud was scattering moonlight everywhere. This ruled
out meteor hunting and Deep Sky photography but did not stop me from
photographing the Moon with the Seestar S50.
I needed to use Altair as a sighter.
I increased the zoom to 4x and took some regional shots with
the Seestar S50.
August 9th 1550 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50.
I zoomed in by 4x with the Seestar S50 to photograph some
solar regions.
August 8th 2125 GMT Meteor Hunt
Unfortunately the Moon in the south east was partially
obscured by cloud. It was a bit hazy in the north, so I pointed my DSLR camera
there and hoped for a meteor or few. I used my normal settings of 18mm focal
length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure. set to take repeated shots.
I did not capture any meteors.
August 8th 2155 GMT Moon
The sky cleared enough to do a lunar shoot with the Seestar
S50.
I increased the zoom to 4x with the Seestar S50 to capture
some regional shots.
August 8th 1440 GMT Sun
The Sun was very active, with the sunspots in two main
groups to the west and east. I photographed with my Seestar S50, as it was too
high in the sky for my Mak/DSLR combination.
I zoomed in to 4x with the Seestar S50 and this really
showed where it works well with the Sun. I took some shots that stood a good
chance of stacking and some where I took single shot, as there was not much
solar limb.
August 6th 0955 GMT Sun
I tried to find the sun using the Seestar S50 but had a lot of
trouble with moving cloud. I found two sunspots through the binoculars and
filters instead.
August 4th 2130 GMT Meteor Hunt
It was too much to expect another bumper night for meteors
as two nights before. There was a lot of thin cloud around, so I was less than
optimistic. I proceeded to set my DSLR camera to automatically take repeat 6
second exposures at 18mm focal length and ISO 6400.
Unfortunately, I did not catch any meteors and the images were too cloudy to extract anything else..
August 4th 2045 GMT Moon
The Moon was very low in the sky. I found it using the
Skymap and took some full disc lunar shots with the Seestar S50.
I increased the zoom to 4x with the Seestar S50 and took
some regional shots.
August 2nd 2230 GMT Pelican Nebula
I used Framing mode with the Seestar S50 to try to get a
better image of the Pelican Nebula (NGC 5070).
August 2nd 2135 GMT Meteor Hunt
I set my DSLR camera to 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6
seconds exposure in the hope of catching some meteors. I set my intervalometer
to take photos every 6 seconds, as usual.
At 2210 GMT, a bright meteor with a short trail appeared at the top left of the photo. The short trail suggested that it was sporadic.
At 2218 GMT a bright Perseid meteor appeared.At 2232 GMT, I caught a faint sporadic meteor.At 2251 GMT, I caught a faint Perseid meteor in Cassiopeia.At 2255 GMT, I caught a very faint Perseid meteor near the top of the photo. The background is a bit messy because I needed to brighten the photo to show the meteor.At 2321 GMT, I caught a short trail Perseid meteor with my DSLR camera at 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds exposure.At 0016 GMT I caught another Perseid meteor.
As I had taken a decentish photo of Cassiopeia at the end of July, I did not produce any constellation shots.
August 2nd 2121 GMT Meteor
I was checking to see if the sky was dark enough when I saw
a bright Perseid meteor flash near Pegasus. It seemed about magnitude -3.
August 2nd 2035 GMT Moon
I took some full disc lunar shots with my Seestar S50.
I adjusted the zoom to 4x, brightness and focus to capture
some lunar closeups with the Seestar S50.
August 2nd 0910 GMT Sun
I used the Seestar S50 to capture the Sun. I turned the
exposure and gain right down and saw a few sunspots.
I set the zoom to 4x on the Seestar S50 to capture some
sunspot closeups.
August 2nd 0315 GMT Venus
I photographed Venus with Capella with my phone camera.
