September 2025 Summary
September is usually one of my favourite months. It is
usually warm. The hot summer conditions have gone and it is still warm enough
to enjoy a week by the sea and conduct astronomy sessions wearing shorts and a
T-shirt. Usually! If I’d had a wetter September in recent years, I could not
remember it. I might have worn shorts outside but often needed a jumper or
coat.
Nevertheless, I imaged a few asteroids for the first time. I
had a few interesting deep sky and lunar shots.
Sun
The sun appeared to be more uniformly active than the month
before. I used binocular scans and drawings, the Seestar S50 and my
Maksutov/DSLR combination to record sunspots as/when I could.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54768230950/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54786337294/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54785376357/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54799244285/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54808310763/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54810176246/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54822603620/in/album-72177720328796513/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54822621960/in/album-72177720328796513/
Moon
If you pardon the pun, I changed my focus from regional
lunar shots to stacking more full disc shots. If you are able to zoom in on
your browser, you may be able to see more detail but no promises. I only used
the Seestar S50 for lunar shots during September 2025.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54767715781/in/album-72157668899851116
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54776081715/in/album-72157668899851116
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54786368629/in/album-72157668899851116
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54795073657/in/album-72157668899851116
Planets
Only Saturn was readily visible in the evening sky. With the
Seestar S50, it is possible to capture the moons but very little else. Jupiter
was due in the evening sky next month.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54786533406/in/album-72157668899804626/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54801085790/in/album-72157668899804626/
I also caught
Uranus (for the first time) and Neptune on camera but they only show a small,
faint disc in the Seestar S50.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54765600296/in/album-72157668899804626
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54765852935/in/album-72157668899804626
Asteroids/Dwarf Planets
This is a new category for my monthly summaries, as I had
never photographed any before. All of these are from the Main Asteroid Belt and
are only visible as very small discs.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54767797686/in/album-72177720328862844
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54785189892/in/album-72177720328862844/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54800780622/in/album-72177720328862844/
Constellations
I did not photograph any constellations during September
2025.
Deep Sky
I pursued the dual aim of finding new objects and getting
better versions of objects that I had photographed before. Many of the new
objects were quite small and faint and not exciting enough to share. Others
brought out the “wow” factor. I also caught a few double/multiple stars.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54763124519/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54765984400/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54778942511/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54786579711/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54801038444/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54807108392/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54808498785/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54811164715/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54813298457/in/album-72177720328796513
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54822514868/in/album-72177720328796513
Transient Events
I captured two close passages of the moon and planets and a
single, bright meteor.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54779342444/in/album-72157668626470961
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54799256085/in/album-72157668626470961/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54809873306/in/album-72157668626470961/
Photo Gallery
This link takes you my photo gallery for September 2025.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/albums/72177720328796513
September 30th 0830 GMT Sun
I woke up to bright sunshine and photographed the Sun with
my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.
September 29th 0835 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with my Mak telescope and DSLR camera
at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. It was full of sunspots and faculae.
September 29th 0020 GMT Betelguese
As I packed my gear away from a deep sky session, I noticed
that Betelguese had risen. I estimated its magnitude to be 0.7.
September 28th 1945 GMT Deep Sky
I wanted to have another go at the Helix Nebula but it was
below the fence!
I decided to have a go at the Pelican Nebula with the
Seestar S50 instead. I stacked 8 integration runs, longest 89 minutes in Sequator and did not use GraXpert. I adjusted exposure in GIMP to bring out the detail. I was amazed by the amount of stars at the top of the image.
September 25th 2005 GMT Saturn and objects in Aquarius
I snapped Saturn in Stargazing mode with the Seestar S50 to
try to capture its moons.
I proceeded to photograph some deep sky objects.I took 5 integration runs with the Seestar S50 on the Helix Nebula, the longest 26 minutes before it disappeared behind as house. I stacked them in Deep Sky Stacker.
I did an integration on NGC7009 of 19 minutes but it is too small to show in the Seestar S50. I zoomed in and it looked like a small uniform green disc.
I stacked 8 integration runs with the Seestar S50, with a total integration time of 139 minutes on the globular star cluster NGC7492.I did a total of 48 minutes on the galaxy NGC7227 and also caught NGC7224 to the right and slightly above.
I did 6 integration runs on NGC7223 with a total integration time of 45 minutes.
I had my first stab at the California Nebula (NGC1499) with the Seestar S50. I did 6 integration runs for a total of 118 minutes. I hoped to revisit it later in the year with a longer run.
September 25th 1005 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50.
I took some closeups of the solar disc with the Seestar S50
at 4x zoom.
September 24th 2145 GMT Deep Sky
Conditions were somewhat patchy, so I did a bit of exploring
with the Seestar S50.
This image with the Seestar S50 is the open star cluster NGC 7423. I stacked two integration runs, each 19 minutes, in Deep Sky Stacker.
I did a single integration run of 17 minutes on the open star cluster NGC 7209 with the Seestar S50.I stacked two integration runs, the longer 9 minutes in Deep Sky Stacker with the Seestar S50 on the open star cluster NGC 7686. It was towards the left of the image and I also seemed to have caught a dark nebula.
September 23rd 2000 GMT M33
I did long integration runs with the Seestar S50 on the
galaxy M33, the longest being 133 minutes. I stacked 11 runs with Deep Sky Stacker.
September 24th 0900 GMT Sun
The Sun was active in white light as I photographed it with
my Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.
September 23rd 2100 GMT Meteor Hunt
I did the same meteor hunt as the previous evening but did not find anything.
September 23rd 0750 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun using my Maksutov telescope and DSLR
camera at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure.
September 22nd 2140 GMT Meteor Hunt
In parallel with imaging the Andromeda Galaxy, I hunted for
meteors from the Anthelion and Southern Taurid streams. I used my DSLR camera
at my usual settings of 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and repeated exposures of 6
seconds.
I caught a meteor at 2300 GMT that was probably an Anthelion or Southern Taurid meteor.
September 22nd Saturn and M31
I did a single 5 minute integration run on Saturn with the
Seestar S50 to try and capture some moons.
I used Framing mode with the Seestar S50 to have a go at the
Andromeda Galaxy (M31). I stacked 8 integration runs, the longest being 88 minutes in Deep Sky Stacker.
September 22nd 1235 GMT Sun
I did my last solar session with the Seestar S50 of summer
2025.
I took some solar closeups with the Seestar S50 at 4x zoom.
September 21st 1200 GMT Sun
I tried to photograph the sun with the Seestar S50 but cloud
rolled in. The next clear spell did not last long, either, but I managed to see
some sunspots with my binoculars and filters.
September 20th 2100 GMT Saturn and NGC 6992
I started off photographing Saturn with my Seestar S50 to
capture its moons. I ran a single integration for 11 minutes.
I used Framing mode with the Seestar S50 to capture NGC6992. I processed a single integration of 52 minutes.
September 20th 1650 GMT Sun
The Sun was low in the south west following a showery
day. I was unable to see any sunspots through my binoculars and filters.
September 19th 2230 GMT Mixed Session
It had been cloudy but somewhat cleared later.
I started with Saturn, hoping to capture some moons with the Seestar S50.
I revisited the galaxy M74. I took 8 integration runs with the Seestar S50 for a total time of 126 minutes.
I snapped M77 for the first time. I stacked 4 integration runs with the Seestar S50 for a total time of 42 minutes. I also caught another galaxy NGC1055 at the top of the image.
I then photographed Ceres which is now officially a dwarf
planet but is in the Main Asteroid Belt and does not appear any different to an
asteroid in my Seestar S50. The bright star on the left is 32 Ceti. To the right and slightly downwards, there are two "stars" and the rightmost one in the centre of the image is Ceres.
September 19th 1230 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50, except that I
nearly didn't!
I needed to use the skymap to find a nearby star then move
the Seestar manually. Thar took several goes.
I increased the zoom to 4x to capture some regional shots
with the Seestar S50.
September 19th 0340 GMT Moon, Jupiter, Venus and
Betelguese
I was about to return to bed after a snack and decaffeinated
coffee when I looked out the back door. The sky had cleared unexpectedly.
I caught the Moon, Jupiter and Venus with my phone
camera.
I photographed the Moon and Jupiter separately with my DSLR
camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/100 second exposure.
I used Rigel. Procyon and Aldebaran to estimate Betelguese
to be magnitude 0.5.
September 18th 1400 GMT Sun
There was a lot of moving cloud around but I managed to see some
sunspots and the sun had come alive, with four new sunspots to my binoculars
and filters.
September 16th 1025 GMT Sun
There was a lot of moving cloud with some rare clear spells
lasting mere seconds. I saw a single sunspot through my binoculars and filters.
September 16th 0100 GMT Moon and Jupiter
Jupiter had risen but was low, so I photographed it near the moon with my
phone camera.
September 16th 0010 GMT Moon
For my final session of the night, I took some full disc
shots of the Moon with the Seestar S50.
September 16th 2305 GMT Polaris
I used the Seestar S50 to explore the region around Polaris. I took a single exposure of 18 minutes that I processed using GraXpert and GIMP.
September 15th 2210 GMT Saturn
I decided to try treating Saturn as a deep sky object to try
and capture its moons. I stacked 8 integration runs, maximum 9 minutes and stacked them in Deep Sky Stacker before finishing in GraXpert and GIMP.
September 13th 2240 GMT Double stars and the Moon
I tried out some more double stars in Aquarius with the
Seestar S50.
I started off with Alpha Aquarii and did a 4 minute integration. The companion is the star to the right and higher up. It is an optical double.
I tried to photograph Gamma Aquarii but was unaware that the companion star is too close to split with amateur instruments.Beta Aquarii showed two companions but they are indistinguishable from the background stars of similar brightness.
Omega Aquarii turned out to be the pick of the bunch but I needed Framing mode with the Seestar S50 to rotate it.
The Seestar S50 did not find the Moon at first, so I used
Capella as a sighter.September 13th 2030 GMT Mixed Session
I was having some trouble finding Saturn for some unknown
reason, so I started off with the globular star cluster M15 with the Seestar
S50. I did 8 integration runs, with a maximum of 21 minutes and stacked in Deep Sky Stacker.
I had another go at Saturn with the Seestar S50. The best
results seemed to be in Stargazing mode where many possible moons were visible.
I went for the triple star system Psi Aquarii. I stacked 4 images, with a maximum integration time of 5 minutes with Deep Sky Stacker.
I aimed at the asteroid Danae but was unconvinced at
which faint object neat the centre of the image it was. I stacked 3 images for a total integration time of 17 minutes.
September 13th 1105 GMT Sun
I took some full disc and closeups of the Sun with the
Seestar S50.
September 12th 2205 GMT Moon
I used M31 as a sighter for the Seestar S50.
I took several full disc images of the Moon with the Seestar
S50. Most were ruined by cloud, so the stack did not work and I processed a single image.
I shot the wide double star Tau Arietis. I did a 4 minute integration and tidied in GraXpert and GIMP. The pair are the bright star in the middle and the other at the bottom of the image.
Then it clouded over.
September 12th 1255 GMT Sun
The bad weather continued but a window of opportunity opened to
check for sunspots with my binoculars. The group of three I saw the day before
looked as if they were about to rotate off the solar disc to the far side. A
new sunspot had rotated onto the disc from the far side.
September 11th 0830 GMT Sun
There was a lot of moving cloud, so I was not able to set up a
telescope or camera. I checked the sunspots through my binoculars and filters
and bagged three.
September 10th 2200 GMT Moon and Paula's
After a wet day, it finally cleared. I needed the Skymap to
find the Moon before I took some full disc images with the Seestar S50.
I then found the asteroid Pallas in Aquila with the Seestar
S50. It is the faint "star" in the middle of the image.
September 9th 2045 GMT Moon and Saturn
The Moon and Saturn were close. I started off with my phone
camera and the result was less than convincing.
After experimenting with the settings, I photographed them
with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 1/100 second exposure.
I then photographed each of them with my Seestar S50.
I combined the DSLR photo of the Moon with Saturn with the images of the Moon and Saturn taken with the Seestar S50.September 9th 0505 GMT Venus and Jupiter
It was dawn. Venus and Jupiter were visible to my eye but no
stars were visible. I used the Seestar S50. Although I was aiming at the right
place, neither planet showed.
I used my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and
1/100 second exposure and caught them both.
Venus showed a small but distinct gibbous phase.
Jupiter showed a fuzzy disc but no details.
September 7th 0000 GMT Deep Sky
Conditions were not great, with lots of patchy cloud but
there was some clear sky to the east.
I snapped the open star cluster M36 with the Seestar S50. I used Deep Sky Stacker with 8 integrations, the longest being 21 minutes.
I snapped the open star cluster M37 with the Seestar S50. I used Deep Sky Stacker with 6 integrations, the longest being 20 minutes.
I snapped the open star cluster M38 with the Seestar S50. I used Deep Sky Stacker with 7 integrations, the longest being 22 minutes.
I made an attempt at the Crab Nebula (M1) but I needed to wait for it to be better placed, under better conditions.
September 6th 2040 GMT Moon
The Moon was in a clear patch of sky but thin cloud was
scattering moonlight everywhere. I took some full disc shots of the Moon with
my Seestar S50.
I increased the zoom to 4x of the Seestar S50 to take some
lunar closeups.
September 6th 1430 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with my DSLR camera and filter,
deliberately setting it to 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/4000 second
exposure.
September 5th 1000 GMT Sun
The Sun was low enough to use my Mak/DSLR combination to
photograph it, just! I used 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second
exposure, except that I'd left the exposure at 1/4000 second. The result was better but the images did not stack.
September 4th 2215 GMT Hebe and Deep Sky
I aimed the Seestar S50 at the asteroid Hebe but was unsure
whether I had caught it. I did, as it is the faint "star" in the middle of the image. I stacked two integration runs, each of 5 minutes.
I aimed the Seestar S50 at the globular cluster M72. I took 7 images for a total integration time of 116 minutes.
I aimed the Seestar S50 at the open cluster M39. I stacked 5 images for a total integration time of 55 minutes.
I stacked 4 integration runs for a total of 35 minutes on M29 with the Seestar S50.
September 4th 1930 GMT Moon
I took some full disc shots of the Moon with the Seestar
S50.
I took some closeups of the Moon with Seestar S50 at 4x
zoom.
September 4th 1005 GMT Sun
Just my luck! I had a bit of unexpected clear sky but the
Seestar S50 could not find the Sun, as it is known to do at times. I used my
DSLR camera with a solar filter at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second
exposure. To make matters even worse, I forgot to set the ISO to 100 so ended up with a very overexposed sun and no processing could reveal any sunspots.
September 4th 2305 GMT Miscellaneous Session
I went out with the Seestar S50 and photographed M72 before
it went out of range. I only managed 4 minutes of integration time before I lost it.
I tried to photograph the asteroid Hebe but failed as it was
too low.
I snapped Neptune with the Seestar S50.
I snapped Uranus with the Seestar S50.
I retried NGC 752 in Framing mode with the Seestar S50. I stacked 4 integration runs, for a total time of 135 minutes and caught the whole cluster.
I caught four, maybe five of Saturn's moons but one and the maybe moon were caught in the glare. I used 4x zoom in Scenery mode.I photographed Saturn at a lower exposure to catch it with the rings.
I tried to combine the photos without success.September 3rd 2245 GMT Moon
I finally managed to photograph the Moon with the Seestar
S50. I took some full disc and regional closeups at 4x zoom.
September 1st 2230 GMT Deep Sky
I had a go at finding some faint galaxies in Pegasus with
the Seestar S50.
I stacked 5 integration runs for a total of 38 minutes on NGC7457.
I did 5 integration runs for a total of 39 minutes on NGC 7497.
I did 7 integration runs with the Seestar S50 on NGC 7626 for a total time of 100 minutes. There are 10 galaxies in this image but most are too small and faint to distinguish from background stars.
I did 4 integration runs for a total time of 34 minutes on NGC 7814 with the Seestar S50. Like, NGC 7233, it is one of the brighter of the galaxies in Pegasus.I finished the session with 4 integration runs for a total of 31 minutes for NGC 7678.September 1st 2315 GMT Deep Sky
This was a continuation of the Deep sky session from August
31st. As cloud had rolled in, I moved from my previous targets to some galaxies
in Pegasus.
I stacked 4 integration runs with the Seestar S50 for a total integration time of 43 minutes 0n the pair of faint galaxies in Pegasus NGC7332 and NGC 7339.
Pegasus then clouded over, so I moved to NGC 752 in Andromeda where I did 4 integration runs with the Seestar S50 for a total time of 61 minutes. I felt I would need to revisit it in Framing mode.
