I help organise a Star Party on Tuesday evening in support of a Midlothian Library initiative. We had around 300 adults and children looking through the scopes and getting wowed by the sights of the night sky. Great support from the members of the ASE. The public appetite is always there.

I saw the sun today for nearly 5 mins! Summer is coming 😎

Combining data over three evenings of SeeStar 50 10sec exposures. This image of M42 has more structure and depth than the individual sessions. Taken in Newtongrange, Scotland

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Yes it does. The SeStar never fails to impress me.

I managed just over 90 mins with the SeeStar on M42 last night. The results off the phone look good. Will look to see what Siril processing will do today.

That looks exciting

M33 taken 3.1.26 from Newtongrange. SeeStar50 83 mins of 10sec exposures. Bright full moon gave large gradient across the image. Used Siril, ceramic, DeNoise and Lightroom. Some 2.9m light years away and the third largest galaxy in the local group.

I invited people from the local area to come and see the moon and Jupiter through a telescope. Two colleagues from the Astro Soc of Edinburgh, joined me. We had approx 15 adults and children despite the freezing temperatures. From the comments I think we made quite an impression.

Given recent news and events I am reminded of those people who wore billboards proclaiming ‘The End in Nigh’.

Last nights Wolf moon from my garden in Midlothian. Taken with the SeeStar 50

Quick shots of the moon. Hand held iPhone through 10” dobsonian eyepiece.

My first go at processing a SeeStar mosaic using Siril and the DSA script. Needed more data than the 84mins used.
M31 taken from Newtongrange, Midlothian, Scotland.

M45 taken last night using a SeeStar50 over 77 mins from Midlothian, Scotland
Always a great sight. No Geminids spotted last night. 🙁

Re processed last nights M42 to get more detail out of the 24 mins of exposure time.

A brief gap in the clouds for 30mins last night allowed the opportunity to capture the Orion Nebula. Needs more exposure time but the clouds look to dominate the night sky till Christmas

As it was a long time since I saw it last I took a quick image of the sun this afternoon with the SeeStar. The enormous sunspots show up well. Might get a big flare soon.

If it is clear you can easily find Uranus. I took this picture with the iPhone. I have indicated which is Uranus to make it easy but binoculars are required unless it very dark.

If it is clear where you are Uranus is easy to see with binoculars. Here it is on this iPhone picture taken just now.

Done!

90 mins on the North American Nebula last night. SeeStar 50

Managed 6mins of 10sec exposures on the SeeStar 50 last night in EQ mode targeting the Pelican Nebula. Amazing what this wee scope can do.

The Pelican Nebula in Cygnus Taken tonight with a SeeStar 50. Just 60 mins of 10sec exposures.

Interstellar comet 3i/ ATLAS taken from my back garden this morning through. Its age is estimated at 7 - 11 billion years so billions of years older than the Solar System. Currently it is about 170 million mile away from us. Worth getting up at 5.30 to see! The SeeStar 50 captured this after 6 min

A quick shot of M13 and Comet Lemmon last night. Taken next to a brightly lit roundabout on the A7!

iPhone image of comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon. 30sec exposure with iPhone on tripod. Amazing little camera imaging an amazing spectacle. Location: Newtongrange, Midlothian.

Some of the ASE members and kit

Checking out the ‘House of Binns’ for future Astronomy events with colleagues from the ASE last night. Patchy cloud but we set up numerous scopes and I took the Society’s 10”
Dob. Good views of Comet Lemmon, Saturn and the Double Cluster. Facilities were good and access fine. Good fun as always.

Another shot of Comet Lemmon form Callander this time. SeeStar50 with iPhone processing. 8mins to get this image. Amazing little machine