October 2025 Summary
October is usually a month of two halves. The first half is early
autumn, where it is still quite warm and sunny. The second half is late autumn,
where it is increasingly cold and wet. At least in south west England in the
21st century, there is neither snow nor ice.
In October 2025, it was a typical late autumn throughout the
month. Clear skies were few and far between. Whilst the astronomical news was
(rightly) focussed on two relatively bright comets, one was poorly placed from
the UK. I managed to photograph them both but when they were past their best. I
managed to photograph some interesting deep sky objects for the first time and
rephotograph some others.
Sun
If clear sky was at a premium during darkness, it was more
so during the day. I missed a lot of clear sky during daylight, too, due to
being busy with non-astronomical activities.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54832741645/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54879501937/in/dateposted-public/
Moon
I concentrated on taking quality full-disc photos with the
Seestar S50 by stacking lots of photos. I also used the same photo processing
techniques that I used for Mak/DSLR lunar shots when the moon was near the
horizon.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54827490827/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54856436441/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54856734651/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54859208749/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54859551269/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54889837356/in/dateposted-public/
Planets
I photographed some planetary moons and Neptune.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54832607689/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54858453751/in/album-72177720329413311
Asteroids/Dwarf Planets
I did not photograph any asteroids nor dwarf planets.
Constellations
I did not photograph any constellations.
Deep Sky
These were low on quantity but mostly high on quality.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54827528127/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54832714790/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54856812668/in/album-72177720329413311
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54857638837/in/album-72177720329413311
Transient Events
I observed Comet A6 Lemmon from an upstairs window. On
October 29th, I FINALLY managed to photograph it, even though it was
low down and I didn’t get enough minutes on it. The photo tallies with my
visual observation.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54889871476/in/dateposted-public/
Comet R2 Swan was past its best but well-placed for a decent
photo.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/54888998222/in/dateposted-public/
Photo Gallery
Click
here to view the photo gallery for October 2025.
October 29th 1830 GMT Comets
I caught Comet Lemmon with the Seestar S50 but only had a
few minutes before it sank behind some trees. I stacked 3 images using Deep Sky Stacker, the longest integration run being 3 minutes.
I caught Comet R2 Swan before I got cold!
At 2025 GMT Comet R2 Swan was around the back of the house,
so I was able to do longer integration runs from indoors. I stacked 12 images in Deep Sky Stacker with the longest integration time of 58 minutes.
I photographed Saturn's moons,
October 29th 1710 GMT Moon
After a cloudy day it finally cleared but it was too late
for the Sun. The Moon was low and I had a bit of cloud-dodging to do. Despite
that, I photographed the Moon with my Seestar S50.
October 26th 0935 GMT Sun
The Sun had risen above the cloud. I took full disc and
close up shots with the Seestar S50.
October 26th 0815 GMT Sun
I repeated the shoot from the day before. I caught some sunspots but cloud ruined the shot.
October 26th 2345 GMT M45
I tried to photograph the Pleiades (M45) using Framing mode
but cloud rolled in before it could complete the session.
October 25th 1345 GMT Sun
A rare opportunity came to photograph the Sun with my Mak
telescope and DSLR camera. There were no large sunspots but quite a few small
ones.
October 24th 0400 GMT Betelguese
I was up early and looked out the back door. I estimated
that Betelguese was brighter than normal at magnitude 0.4.
October 19th 2015 GMT Comet Lemmon
There was finally some clearish sky after days of bad
weather. I saw the comet from an upstairs window. After scanning with
binoculars for a few minutes, I saw a faint fuzzy object with a mere hint of a
tail.
October 12th 2210 GMT Moon
The Moon was waning gibbous. I found it by using Capella as
a sighter then using the skymap with the Seestar S50.
October 11th 2045 GMT Moon and More
The
Moon was up but too low for the Seestar S50. I had a go, anyway.
Thin cloud was scattering
moonlight everywhere. Despite this, I had a go at photographing the galaxy
M77. It was behind cloud but the open cluster NGC1750 was not. I took four integration runs for a total of 27 minutes.
October 10th 2045 GMT Moon and Saturn
I photographed the Moon with the Seestar S50 by using
Capella as a sighter.
Despite the poor conditions, I had a go at Saturn.I captured the rings by stacking 3 images in Deep Sky Stacker, longest run 7 minutes and finished in GraXpert and GIMP.
I photographed Neptune with the Seestar S50, treating it like a deep sky object. I used 6 seconds integration.
I stacked 5 integration runs of M77 taken with the Seestar S50, the longest 58 minutes, in Deep Sky Stacker.
October 6th 2220 GMT Moon and Saturn
I photographed the Moon then Saturn with the Seestar
S50.
October 6th 1020 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50.
I took some closeups of the Sun with the Seestar S50 at 4x
zoom.
October 6th 0005 GMT Moon and Saturn
I photographed the Moon and Saturn with my phone camera and
was amazed to capture Saturn in the lunar glare.
October 5th 2005 GMT Moon, Saturn and the western Veil Nebula
I photographed the moon with the Seestar S50.
I photographed the Western Veil Nebula with the Seestar S80. I stacked 8 integration runs in Deep Sky Stacker, the longest being 74 minutes. I used the Exposure and Saturation features in GIMP to finish.
October 5th 1105 GMT Sun
There was a lot of moving cloud but I hoped to capture the
Sun with the Seestar S50. I got some shots that appeared to be cloud-free.
October 5th 0035 GMT Moon and Saturn
After packing the Seestar S50 away, it cleared. I took some
shots of the Moon and Saturn together with my DSLR at 70mm focal length, ISO
1600 and 1/40 second exposure.
In case the Seestar S50 lunar shots did not work, I snapped
the Moon at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.
None of the shots worked.
October 5th 2345 GMT Moon and Saturn
I was trying to photograph the Moon and Saturn's moons with
the Seestar S50 but cloud rolled in and I was dubious about the image quality.
I processed a single shot of the moon with the Sesetar S50.
October 4th 1815 GMT Moon
I had a bit of trouble finding the Moon with the Seestar
S50, eventually using the Skymap and manual movement.
October 4th 0845 GMT Sun
I photographed the Sun with the Seestar S50.
I zoomed to 4x to take some regional sunspot images with the
Seestar S50. October 4th 0400 GMT Jupiter and the Crab
I photographed Jupiter's moons with the Seestar S50.
I increased the zoom to 4x, turned the brightness down to
minimum, refocused and snapped Jupiter, hoping to get some details. I didn't!
I had a go at the Crab Nebula (M1) with the Seestar S50.
Cloud rolled in as dawn was breaking. I did 7 integration runs, the longest being 13 minutes. I stacked using Deep Sky Stacker, GraXpert worked a treat and I adjusted the Exposure and Saturation in GIMP.
October 1st 2100 GMT Wizard Nebula
Conditions were far from perfect but there was a patch of
clearish sky overhead. I photographed the Wizard Nebula in Cepheus with the
Seestar S50. I did 7 runs that I stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, with the longest being 69 minutes. I tried GraXpert but had better results without it.
October 1st 2030 GMT Moon
I retried the Moon with the Seestar S50 and nailed it this
time. I stacked 10 images.
October 1st 1740 GMT Moon
I photographed the Moon with my Seestar S50 or tried to. It thought that the moon was behind a house.
October 1st 1540 GMT Sun
The sun was low in the south west, in a bank of thin cloud. I saw
three sunspots with my binoculars and filters, although there were more small
ones on the Learmonth images.
