Sunday, August 3, 2025

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 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 6^th 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.

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Further Thoughts on Word Count August 4^th

I reached another milestone, as “Astronomer, Reincarnated” surpassed 150 pages. This is despite a word count of just over 9 000. As the main subject is astrophotography, it is a genre where the ratio of images to text is probably one of the highest. It is probably even higher in many books for young children. So it follows that, for many book genres, that page count is more significant than word count.

Yet, page count introduces its own challenges. I’m inclined to think that the optimum number of pages is about 300 to 350. One recent book, “Astronomer, Reinvented”, reached a mere 235. That was enough, maybe more than enough, to show and tell the story of a phase of my astronomical life. I did not continue with it, as the era covered by “Astronomer, Reincarnated” had begun and it was a very different era to those preceding it, so needed a totally new book.

My, as yet untitled, book on stars is a more extreme case. I have written the words, with only some better versions of the photographs to include. As an aside, astronomy readers will metaphorically, rip a book to shreds, if they perceive the images to be sub-standard, even of they are good enough to cover the topic.

At the other end of the spectrum is my beginner book “Being an Astronomer”. I felt that the book was “finished” about 2 years ago but are non-fiction books ever finished? There have been new developments in amateur astronomy and I had to keep it current. I’m also adding new images of objects I had never photographed before to the next edition. The page count of the current draft is 367. With about another 20 pages of images to come, I need to decide whether to run with a longer book or remove some sections.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, page count is not as critical for self-published books, nor for non-fiction, but writers must consider the needs and expectations of the readers.

Astronomer, Reincarnated Update July 27^th

I reached another sort-of milestone with one of my works-in-progress. I had written up everything to-date. Such is the life of an astronomy writer is that most, if not all, books need observations and photos to complete them. It once took me four years to finish a book because the weather got in the way!

Astronomer, Reincarnated is the account of my photos taken with my smart telescope, the Seestar S50. To date, I am pleased with what I have been able to do but I am only four months in. Similar to Astronomer, Reinvented I have written about what I tried, what worked, what didn’t and what (if possible) I did to fix it.

Most of my recent photos were taken, as part of this journey:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/

Writing Advice July 23^rd 2025

Writers don’t just write. We market our books, do some research (if applicable) and advise other writers. I wonder at times, if our writing advice is not so much to remind other writers, as to remind ourselves. A lot of writing advice is very generic and mostly aimed at novellists. Most writers who post on public forums are novellists. I have never known whether that means most writers are novellists or just those who blog about writing. I have written magazine articles and so has a close relative. I write primarily about astronomy, so I’m a non-fiction writer. Here’s a look at some of the advice given out and my views on it:

Don’t give up the Day Job

Yes, I agree. Most writers make no money at all and, of those who do make money, it does not make a living income. Even if, hypothetically, you match the income from your day job, it does not follow that you will next year or the year after. Also, if you write full time, you become very isolated from daily life and that is harmful if you are a novelist.

Write every day

Many writers actually do write every day, seven days a week. They might miss out a few days where there is a celebration, such as Christmas or birthdays. I would suggest that it is not necessary to write every day. If you have a day job and a family, it just won’t be possible. Set realistic targets and accept that life gets in the way sometimes. Also, you will spend a lot of time refining and editing any writing project, probably at least as much as you spend writing.

You need to write 1 000 Words a Day

Related to the above, there are no hard and fast rules, unless you have a deadline from a publisher. Even then, you should look more towards weekly targets and allow time for refinements and editing. Other than that, 20 good words are better than 1 000 bad ones. If your book includes images, it is more about page count than word count.

Each Genre of Book has its own total Word Count

Yes, this is true, especially if you are writing a novel and you are hoping to get a publishing contract. The general guideline for a novel is 80 000 to 120 000 words but some genres, like science fiction and crime drama have more rigid requirements. However, if you are self-publishing, it is not as important but readers can be put off my books that take a long time to read.

You need some sort of formal Training to be a Novellist

From my experience, some form of creative writing course is a help. I would suggest that, as a minimum, you should have a basic understanding of human psychology. The exception is when you are writing fantasy but, even then, I would suggest that the characters are believable, even if they are non-human and are not in a traditional setting. I once had what I thought was a great novel idea but a publisher explained the reason why it wouldn’t work.

Update July 22^nd 2025

Life gets in the way of writing, something I will blog about another day. Astronomer, Reincarnated crossed the 100 page boundary. Yes, it needs a lot more sections to be written but also requires more time outside with my smart telescope. With the weather being poor, I managed to catch up a bit with writing.

Update July 16^th 2025

For a list of published books and a description of them, please refer to:

http://philippughastronomer.epizy.com/About_Phils_Books.html

I had not been writing very much at the time of writing. Instead, I was outside taking photographs or on my PC processing them. Sometimes, I even add them to my books or replace existing photos with more recent, better versions.

I currently have three works in progress (WIPs). As they are all dependent on photos, this does not cause any problems.

Astronomer, Reincarnated (due Spring 2027)

This is my main project. It chronicles my adventures in Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA). It started when I received a “smart” telescope for a milestone birthday. It enabled me to photograph objects that I had not been able to before. I have visited lots of deep sky objects and revisited some of the more interesting ones. To see my images, see:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/

Keep watching, as this gets updated several times per week.

Guide to the Stars (working title, due Spring 2026)

This is a departure from my usual genre of astronomy book. Although it is of interest to astronomers, it is also suitable for the general public, even those who have no intention of looking through a telescope. It explains the different types of star, how they work and how they are born, live and die. This is done using words and diagrams that can be understood by people without a scientific background.

I have completed the text of this book, well as complete as any writer will admit! I made some minor revisions today to clarify the different types of nebulae.

The main issue is that I need better versions of the photographs I have taken. I may also add some photographs of new example objects. Whilst this does not improve the content of the book, it will improve the aesthetics. People say “never judge a book by its cover”. Unfortunately (for writers!) they do, as they also judge a book by its graphics.

Being an Astronomer (7^th Edition, due whenever!)

This is my beginner book.

The 6^th edition contains an introduction to EAA. This has been expanded for the 7^th edition but the main enhancement will be the addition of new objects (or replacing existing photos with better ones) in the Constellations section. I am doing this in parallel with new images from Astronomer, Reincarnated. Whether I will add any new constellation descriptions or new sections is debatable.

Friday, July 4, 2025

July 2025

July 2025 Summary

There was lots of rain in July, more than in June but there were often some uncomfortably hot spells. Despite that, I actually took more photos than in June. I balanced finding new deep sky objects with revisiting ones and using longer integration times. I photographed many objects for the first time, including Neptune and a supernova.

Sun

The sun was rather quiet and I missed some clear days due to life being rather busy.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54677284780/in/album-72157666438967194
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54677295380/in/album-72157666438967194/

Moon

The moon is not well-placed in July from England but I managed to take quite a few photos. With the ability of the Seestar S50 to find objects, I was able to capture a very thin waning crescent in daylight.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54635473259/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54634401862/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54655417070/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54662995047/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54677110595/in/album-72177720327343053/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54690998596/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54694998838/in/dateposted-public/

Planets

I caught Neptune on camera for the first time ever, although it appeared very star-like, due to its small angular size.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54671429223/in/album-72157668899804626
I also caught Saturn with its moon, Titan and, later, with three moons.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54671559565/in/album-72157668899804626/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54691101309/in/dateposted-public/

Constellations

I did not photograph any constellations until near the end of the month. I photographed Pegasus and Cassiopeia.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54694867935/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54694916355/in/dateposted-public/

Deep Sky

Despite the bad weather and lack of true darkness, I had a reasonable month.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54663047372/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54655206126/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54661712791/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54663833831/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54671265709/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54671018656/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54679730136/in/album-72177720327343053
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54691154523/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54691151456/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54691528715/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54693889432/in/dateposted-public/

Transient Events

I caught the moon with Spica, combining photos from my DSLR and Seestar S50.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54649809706/in/album-72177720327343053
I caught a supernova for the first time, in the distant galaxy NGC 7331.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54679961214/in/album-72177720327343053
I caught three meteors on camera. The featured one was probably an early member of the Perseid shower.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54694167336/in/dateposted-public/

Photo Gallery

A link to my July 2025 photo gallery follows:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/albums/72177720327343053/

July 31st 2015 GMT Moon
I shot the Moon with the Seestar S50. In was not happy with the result.

I zoomed the Seestar in by 4x but only managed one set of closeups before cloud moved in.

July 31st 2350 GMT M34 and NGC 752

There was a lot of cloud about but I managed to capture M34 and NGC 752 with the Seestar S50.
I stacked 3 integration runs for a total of 30 minutes with the Seestar S50 for M34.

I checked the supernova in NGC 7331 and it was still there!

NGC 752 used Framing mode with the Seestar S50. I stacked 3 integration runs for a total integration time of 55 minutes.

July 29th 0010 GMT Pegasus

I had a go at photographing the constellation of Pegasus with my DSLR camera at 18mm focal length, ISO 1600 and 30 seconds exposure.
At 0025 GMT, there was the small matter of a meteor, probably a Perseid.

As for the constellation, it did not stack in Sequator, so I used Deep Sky Stacker instead.
I caught another meteor near Cassiopeia at 0043 GMT. This time, a sporadic.

Cassiopeia stacked using Sequator.
July 28th 2130 GMT Deep Sky
I took the Seestar S50 out to try to capture some deep sky objects.
I used 41 minutes integration time on M75 with the Seestar S50.
I used 47 minutes integration on M72 with the Seestar S50.
I used 11 minutes integration time on M73 with the Seestar S50. It is actually a small group of stars, neither nebula, cluster not galaxy.

I did 100 minutes integration time with the Seestar S50 on M17.

I did 30 minutes integration time with the Seestar S50 on M30.

The final action of the session was 27 minutes integration on the galaxy M110 with the Seestar S50. The battery had ran out. At the bottom of the image is part of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).

July 28th 2020 GMT Moon
The Moon was low in the west after sunset. I photographed it with the Seestar S50.

I increased the zoom to 4x and took some lunar regional shots with the Seestar S50.

July 28th 2310 GMT Deep Sky Session

I started off with the globular star cluster M2 in Aquarius. I took four integration runs, for a total of 65 minutes with the Seestar S50. I stacked them in Deep Sky Stacker, removed noise in GraXpert and finished in GIMP.

A 3-minute integration run on NGC7331 with the Seestar S50 showed that the supernova was still there.

I took two images of Saturn with the Seestar S50, one showing the rings and the other showing the moons. Unfortunately, I couldn't combine them.

I did 22 minutes of integration on the Helix Nebula with the Seestar S50 but it was less than convincing.

I did 6 integration runs totalling 65 minutes with the Seestar S50.

I did 4 integration runs for a total of 33 minutes on M33. I was pleased with the result but was hoping for some longer runs a bit later in the year.

July 25^th 1007 to 1045 GMT Sun

Maybe it is "first world problems" to many but I tried every trick I had to find the sun with the Seestar S50 but all failed dismally.

As the sun was too high in the sky for me to use my Mak/DSLR combination for full disc shots, I used my DSLR camera and filter at 300mm Focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure. Alas, I did not capture any sunspots with this method, either.

July 24th 2300 GMT Meteor Hunt and Deep Sky

As it was near the start of the Perseid meteor shower, I set my DSLR camera at my usual settings of 18mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 6 seconds and hoped.
At 2328 GMT, I caught a sporadic (non-shower) meteor near Cassiopeia.

I took the Seestar S50 out and started off with NGC 7331. I did not think the conditions would allow me to photograph the supernova but I could always hope.
I started with a map of the general area, showing some smaller members of the NGC catalogue.

I did several integration runs of NGC7331, for a total of 81 minutes with the Seestar S50.
This had overexposed the galaxy core, drowning out the supernova. I re-examined the images and found one with 10 minutes integration with the Seestar S50.

I used the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) purely as a sighter but this image showed a taster of what I might be able to get in the autumn when it will be higher in the sky and I will be able to run multi-hour framing integrations.

I caught Gamma Andromedae with the Seestar S50. I found it using the Star map and switched to Scenery mode to obtain the 4x zoom I needed to split the pair.

I managed only 7 minutes integration on M33 before cloud rolled in. As M31, it gave me a taste of things to come.

My final shot of the session, Saturn with Titan, was affected by cloud, too, but showed the relative positions of the two objects.

July 24^th 0925 GMT Sun
There was still cloud around but I had better luck than the day before, capturing a single sunspot.

July 14th 2245 GMT M16 and Moon

I found that many objects were too low for the Seestar S50 from our back garden. The Eagle Nebula (M16) was not, so I did a 15 minute integration run.

I managed to recover 10 image files for a total integration time of 229 minutes but both Sequator and Deep Sky Stacker overexposed M16.

I tried a different process of 229 total minutes integration time with the Seestar S50 and ended up with (what I think) is a better result.

I finally retried Deep Sky Stacker for a total of 229 minutes integration time with the Seestar S50 and got what I thought was the best result.

The Moon was low in the south east and I took some full disc shots with the Seestar S50.

I increased the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x and took some closeups of the Moon.

July 14th 0015 GMT Moon, Planets and the Ring

I took some lunar closeups with the Seestar S50 at 4x zoom. Only one worked.

I tried a few other objects without success. There was a lot of problems with cloud.

I caught Neptune on camera for the first time ever, with the Seestar S50. Due to its extreme distance from us, it appears as a small dot in the centre of this image. To be fair, it would only show a small, featureless disc with my Maksutov and webcam, that is, if I could find it.

I took some shots of Saturn with the Seestar S50, hoping to catch some moons but only saw Titan.

I did a separate shot of the planet only, showing the rings nearly edge-on but no surface details.

I combined the two images.

I caught a faint imprint of the globular star cluster M30 but it showed no detail.

As previously discussed here, I was finding the Ring (M57) quite challenging. I stacked a few 10 second integration runs with the Seestar S50 with Deep Sky Stacker. I made a few adjustments in GIMP and got rather closer to the best possible with what I have.

July 13th 0940 GMT Sun and Venus

The Sun was showing lots of sunspots, at last! I took some full disc shots with my Seestar S50.

I increased the zoom to 4x on the Seestar S50 and took some closeups.

I caught Venus with the Seestar S50 but, even at 4x zoom, I could not see anything but a full disc. It really needed a longer focal length and wider aperture, with it being on the opposite side of the Sun to Earth. The result was hazy, despite refocussing.

July 13th 2350 GMT Moon and Deep sky

I photographed the full lunar disc with the Seestar S50.

I increased the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x to take some close-ups.

I did my first ever shot of M2 with the Seestar S50.

I photographed the double star Algedi in Capricornus with the Seestar S50. I stacked two 5-minute integrations for a total of 10.

July 11th 2230 GMT Sadr Region

It took a few goes for Framing mode to work but I finally managed to use it with the Seestar S50 to capture a wider view of the Sadr region in Cygnus. I stacked a total of 120 minutes integration time but felt an even longer run would be needed to nail it.

July 11th 2210 GMT Moon

The Moon was low in the south east. I snapped it with the Seestar S50 to get some full disc shots.

I increased the zoom to 4x on the Seestar S50 to take a collection of regional shots.

July 11th 0700 GMT Sun

Despite finishing late the night before, I woke up early and did a solar shoot with my Mak and DSLR. I took some full disc images with the Mak and DSLR at 1.54m focal length, ISO 100 and 1/500 second exposure. Unfortunately, the stack did not work. A single image showed the sunspots but, also, Newton's rings.

July 11th 0035 GMT Binocular Session

Conditions were not good, although were acceptable near the zenith. where l was trying to photograph the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) with the Seestar S50.

I spotted Melotte 20, the star cluster in Perseus, surely a candidate for imaging with the S50 in the autumn.

I also saw Albireo and M52, two objects I had already photographed. Saturn was low in the east and did not show any hint of rings, nor its Moon, Titan.

The sky was too bright to see M11, being low and close to the Moon.

I hurt my neck on the double stars Epsilon and Delta Lyrae, although Epsilon only split into two stars and not four, which is usual for my binoculars.

With Dawn already starting to break in the east, my last successful pot was the double star Nu Draconi.

July 10th 2240 GMT Moon and NGC 7000

I used Altair as a sighter to setup the Seestar S50.

The full moon was low in the south east. I used the Seestar S50 to capture the full lunar disc.

I increased the zoom to 4x to capture some lunar closeups with the Seestar S50.

I went into Framing mode to have a go at NGC 7000 with the Seestar S50 and used a total integration time of 195 minutes.

July 7th 2115 GMT Moon

The Moon. was low and nearing full phase. I had trouble with cloud. I used Vega as a sighter.

I took two sets of exposures of the full lunar disc with the Seestar S50.

I increased the zoom of the Seestar S50 to 4x to capture a set of closeups of the Moon.

July 4th 1135 GMT Sun

From the Learmonth website, I could see that the sunspots were sparse and faint. I tried several methods of finding the Sun with the Seestar S50 but all failed.

I tried to capture Venus. I hit the right spot but it was not visible. It was possibly too faint to capture in daylight.

As sometimes works with the Sun and Moon, finding another object first with the Seestar S50 calibrated it. I was rewarded with a full disc solar shot.

July 4th 2315 GMT Deep Sky

I photographed the wide double star Omega Cygni with the Seestar S50 which required framing mode and 14 minutes integration time.

I had a go at the globular star cluster in Pegasus known as M15 with the Seestar S50. I stacked 129 minutes of images.

I retried the stack of 13 images with the Seestar S50 of M15 (129 minutes integration) with Deep Sky Stacker but, this time, the result showed more detail than with Sequator.

July 3rd 2140 GMT Moon with Spica

As it started to darken, I saw the Moon and Spica close together. I photographed with my DSLR camera at 300mm focal length, ISO 400 and 1/50 second exposure. I then superimposed an earlier image taken with the Seestar S50.

July 3rd 2100 GMT Moon

In the universe of amateur astronomy. not everything always goes to plan. The Seestar S50 could not find the Moon from our back garden. I moved it to a place in the neighbourhood and found the Moon. I took several full disc shots.

I tried to use 4x zoom but lost the connection with the Seestar S50. I restarted it but it could not find the Moon. I found Arcturus then nailed it.

July 2nd 2230 GMT Seeing Double

It was not properly dark, even by British summer standards, so I had a go at some double stars. I wanted to capture Nu Draconi but the Seestar S50 does not like objects too near the zenith. I used Vega as a sighter.

I caught Epsilon Lyrae with the Seestar S50 but could only split it in two and not four.

The Seestar S50 caught Gamma Delphini easily enough. I used 3 minutes integration time.

I happened upon the double star Omega Cygni when using the star map of the Seestar S50. It is a very wide double, so I needed to use Framing mode and 16 minutes integration time.

July 2nd 2010 GMT Moon

I had a bit of trouble finding the Moon but it was more my fault than that of the Seestar S50. It was well worth it when I did as it was a very clear first quarter phase.