Philip Pugh's Astronomy Blog: July 2025

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.