May 2026 Summary
There were some beautiful, warm, clear days but there was
also a lot of cloud and many days of rain. The amount of true darkness was
disappearing fast and gone near the end of the month, when there was a heatwave.
Sun
The sun was getting better-placed in the sky and more active
than in April. However, the weather did not always co-operate.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55246832844/in/album-72157666438967194
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55259788496/in/album-72157666438967194/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55265652367/in/album-72157666438967194/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55302486195/in/album-72157666438967194/
Moon
The moon was well-placed when in the evening sky.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55244355633/in/album-72157668899851116
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55263683611/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55263683611/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55292321488/in/album-72157668899851116/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55293661588/in/album-72157668899851116/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55298632452/in/album-72157668899851116/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55302389525/in/album-72157668899851116/
Planets
Jupiter was getting more difficult but I finally caught
Venus with the Seestar S50.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55254505901/in/album-72157668899804626
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55254746589/in/album-72157668899804626/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55288422447/in/album-72157668899804626/
Dwarf Planets/Asteroids
I did not photograph any asteroids nor dwarf planets.
Constellations
I did not photograph any constellations.
Deep Sky
I reprocessed some familiar objects and found some new ones.
I also tried hierarchical stacking on Melotte 111.
· M100 in Canes Venactici:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55249657474/in/album-72177720325141895
· M31 in Andromeda:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55249657474/in/album-72177720325141895
· NGC2903 in Leo:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55254521911/in/album-72177720333437283
· Melotte 111 in Coma Berenices
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55259110930/in/album-72177720333437283
·
NGC6229 in
Hercules
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55257840622/in/album-72177720333437283
· M10 in Ophiuchus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55240821028/in/album-72177720332902653/
· M5 in Serpens
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55260983250/in/album-72177720325141895
· M90 in Virgo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55267582495/in/album-72177720325141895
· M92 in Hercules
https://https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55241408459/in/album-72177720325141895/www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55241408459/in/album-72177720325141895/
· NGC5466 in Bootes
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55293975540/in/album-72177720333437283
· M13 in Hercules
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55299274694/in/album-72177720333437283/
· M12 in Ophiuchus
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55302885538/in/album-72177720333437283/
· M11 in Scutum
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55301832722/in/album-72177720333437283/
· M71 in Sagitta
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55307695311/in/album-72177720325141895
Transient Events
Venus and Jupiter were getting closer in the sky.
·
Venus and
Jupiter May 6th
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55254654998/in/album-72157668626470961
·
Venus and Jupiter May 10th
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55263644070/in/album-72177720333437283
·
Venus and Jupiter May 26th
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/55299557716/in/album-72157668626470961/
May 2026 Photo Album
https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippughastronomer/albums/72177720333437283
May 2026 Full Report
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Updated Web Pages
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Messier
Objects
May 31st 2100 GMT Venus with Jupiter
I had an early start the next day, so I just photographed Venus with Jupiter in the dusk sky.
May 31st 2320 GMT M71
I photographed the globular star cluster M71 in Sagitta with the Seestar S50.
May 30th 2315 GMT M12
I had another go at the globular star cluster M12. I ran an integration for 83 minutes before haze moved in from the west.
I did a quick (10 minute) integration on the open star cluster M11.
May 29th 2040 GMT Dusk Shoot
I photographed Venus with Jupiter with my phone camera.
I took a full disc video of the moon with the Seestar S50.
May 29th 1540 GMT Sun
I took a full disc video and still closeups of the sun with the Seestar S50.
May 28th 2120 GMT Moon
I took a full disc video of the moon with the Seestar S50, which I later stacked.
May 28th 2050 GMT Venus with Jupiter
I photographed Venus and Jupiter with my phone camera.
May 27th 2105 GMT Moon
I took a full disc video and closeup still shots of the moon with the Seestar S50.
May 27th 2100 GMT Venus and Jupiter
I photographed Venus and Jupiter together with my phone camera.
May 27th 0930 GMT Sun
I took a full disc video of the sun with the Seestar S50 , which I later stacked and some still closeups. The two closeups were almost identical, so I processed only one.
May 26th 2125 GMT Venus with Jupiter
I photographed Venus with Jupiter using a phone camera.
May 26th 2100 GMT Moon
After an unsettled day, I took a video of the moon with the Seestar S50, which I stacked later.
May 25th 2200 GMT M13
I had another go at the globular star cluster M13, hoping for a long integration with the Seestar S50. I processed a single integration run of 124 minutes in GraXpert and GIMP.
May 25th 2045 GMT Jupiter with Venus
Venus and Jupiter were getting closer in the sky. I photographed them with my phone camera.
May 25th 1035 GMT Sun
I took one full disc and one closeup video of the sun with the Seestar S50 and stacked them to produce still images.
May 24th 2245 GMT Binocular Session
While the Seestar S50 was running a long integration on a faint galaxy, I had a browse round. I started with the moon, low in the west. At 8 days past new, the southern craters looked great, with the craters Clavius and Tycho on the terminator. Plato showed well to the north and the Alps and Appennines mountain ranges were partly visible.
Higher in the west, I could see the large star cluster Melotte 111 but only the brighter stars were visible in the moonlight.
Straining my neck to look almost overhead, I saw the optical star Mizar/Alcor. I even found the galaxy M51 and its faint companion galaxy but only their cores. It was nice to see them at all, as it was not truly dark and the moon was quite near.
I saw a few stars and a moving satellite in Virgo but no galaxies, as they are a tough pot under any conditions.
I had become interested in globular star clusters since buying the Seestar S50. It took several attempts to find M3 and it looked rather underwhelming, compared to my photographs. It was similar for M4 and i could not see M80 at all. The Hercules clusters, M13 and M92 showed quite well, both cores and outer regions.
Moving east, I saw the Wild Duck Cluster (M11) as a fuzzy patch, the Coathanger asterism and even the Dumbbell Nebula (M27). This was the first time I had captured it in binoculars and it appeared surprisingly large. I also saw the double star Albireo.
I saw Epsilon Lyrae as a double star, as it does not split into four with binoculars, and the double Delta Lyrae. I saw the North America Nebula and some of the haze around Sadr. The whole area around Cygnus and Lyra was full of stars.
I ended with a hazy, fuzzy patch known as the Andromeda Galaxy, an object that I would surely revisit a few times later in the year
May 24th 2200 GMT Galaxy NGC5248
I photographed the galaxy NGC5248 with the Seestar S50. I stacked 7 images in Deep Sky Stacker, the longest integration time being 61 minutes.
May 24th 1720 GMT Moon
I took a video of the moon with the Seestar S50, which I stacked later.
May 24th 1140 GMT Sun
I took a full disc video of the sun, which i later stacked.
May 24th 0110 GMT Summer Triangle
As I was finishing my shoot from the previous evening, i took dome shots of the Summer Triangle with my phone camera. It did not work!
May 23rd 2200 GMT NGC 5466
It was the first night of no true darkness from home. I photographed the globular star cluster NGC5466 with the Seestar S50. As I had a lot of interference from cloud, I stacked 5 images, taken at various times over 85 minutes, using Deep Sky Stacker, with the best pixel method. I finished in GraXpert and GIMP.
May 23rd 2050 GMT Moon
I had trouble finding the moon with the Seestar S50 but a switch to the Skymap then Scenery did the trick. I took a video and stacked it.
May 23rd 2040 GMT Venus and Jupiter
I attempted to capture Venus and Jupiter together with my phone camera. Alas! I only caught Venus.
May 23rd 1130 GMT Sun
I tried to take full did closeup videos of the sun with the Seestar S50 but the full disc video did not record. I stacked the closeup videos to reveal some sunspots.
May 22nd 2040 GMT Moon
I took a full disc video of the moon that i stacked later.
I did some still closeups of the moon.
May 22nd 1110 GMT Sun
I took some full disc and closeup videos of the sun with that Seestar S50. I stacked them later but only one of the closeups showed anything.
May 21st 2040 GMT Twilight Shoot
I photographed Venus with Jupiter, Jupiter with the moon and all three together with my phone camera. The photo with all three did not work.
I took videos of Jupiter showing the moons and (hopefully!) showing the cloud belts. I stacked and combined them.
I took still shots and a video of Venus showing the phase.
May 21st 1940 GMT Moon
It was not yet sunset but i had two unsuccessful attempts at the moon the evening before. I took a full disc video and later stacked it to produce an image.
May 21st 1210 GMT Sun
I took full disc and closeup videos of the sun, which I stacked to produce still images.
May 21st 2300 GMT NGC6882
After two attempts to capture the moon with the Seestar S50 failed, due to cloud, I photographed the open star cluster NGC6882 in Vulpecula.
May 20th 0930 GMT Sun
Finally, a fleeting period of clear sky but long enough to capture some videos of the sun, for later stacking.
May 14th 2050 GMT Venus and Jupiter
Venus and Jupiter were getting closer in the sky. I snapped them together with my phone camera.
May 14th 1100 GMT Sun
The Seestar S50 failed to find the sun, despite recalibration of the compass. I did a binocular scan instead and saw the two close sunspots I had seen before.
May 12th 2145 GMT Galaxy M90
I photographed the galaxy M90 with the Seestar S50. I processed a single integration run of 62 minutes before cloud covered the sky. I felt it needed a much longer integration time but would need to wait until next year for longer periods of darkness.
May 12th 1100 GMT Sun
Despite the clouds, I managed to take full disc and closeup videos of the sun for stacking.
May 12th 2315 GMT M99
I tried to photograph the galaxy M99 with the Seestar S50 but the image was very faint. Even stacking in Sequator only produced a faint smudge.
May 11th 0440 GMT Moon
I photographed the moon with the Seestar S50 by taking a video for later stacking.
May 10th 2045 GMT Venus and Jupiter
I photographed Venus and Jupiter with my phone camera.
May 9th 2235 GMT Globular Cluster M5
The afternoon and evening had been rather hazy. As this continued into darkness, I decided to attempt to photograph a bright deep sky object with the Seestar S50. I chose the globular star cluster M5. I managed only 15 minutes integration before cloud moved in again.
May 9th 1135 GMT Sun
The weather stayed clear later than expected. I took full disc and closeup videos of the sun with the Seestar S50 for later stacking. I was having problems with Newton's Rings, so did not get the contrast I hoped for.
May 8th 2230 GMT Star Cluster Melotte 111
This session was in parallel with my session on the globular star cluster NGC6229. As Melotte 111 is a particularly large object, it is impossible to fit in the field of view of the Seestar S50, Instead, I used the DSLR camera at 70mm focal length, ISO6400 and 6 seconds exposure. I took multiple images, with the intention of stacking. I stacked 69 images in two stages.
May 8th 2130 GMT Globular Cluster NGC6229
I had a go at photographing the globular cluster NGC6229 in Hercules with the Seestar S50. I processed a single integration of 150 minutes in GraXpert and GIMP. The long integration and process showed a dense core but many outer stars.
May 6th 2150 GMT Galaxy NGC2903
Despite the moving cloud, I had another go at the galaxy NGC2903, in Leo, with the Seestar S50. I had 36 minutes of integration time before being completely clouded out.
May 6th Jupiter and Venus
I took some videos of Venus and Jupiter with the Seestar S50 for later stacking but was not convinced that I had captured the phase of Venus.
I also caught Venus and Jupiter with my phone camera.
May 6th 1305 GMT Sun
Against the weather forecast, the sun was out from behind the clouds. I took full disc and closeup shots of the sun with the Seestar S50.
May 5th 1120 GMT Sun
I set up the Seestar S50 to photograph the sun. I saw two large sunspots but cloud rolled in before i could get any image.
I tried to stack the FITS files for M56 but the result was very faint.
May 4th Reprocessing Images
I tried stacking the FITS files on the Seestar S50 for the galaxy M100 using Deep Sky Stacker. It complained that multiple FITS files were incompatible, so I stacked one. I processed it in GraXpert and GIMP and the result was a bit better than processing the file store on the mobile app. There is also a small galaxy to the bottom right, which I have been unable to identify.
I stacked a FITS file of M31 in Framing mode with the Seestar S50. GraXpert did not work, so I just processed the stacked file in GIMP. By showing the outer arms, I overexposed the nucleus.
May 3rd 1120 GMT Sun
I took full disc and closeup videos of the sun with the Seestar S50 for stacking to produce still images.
May 1st 2150 GMT Moon
There was a lot of haze around and even Vega and Arcturus looked faint. I had to boost the exposure to capture a video of the moon with the Seestar S50. Nothing else was worth photographing.
