Summer Stars with an Android

The Summer Triangle and the Milky Way.
Captured with a Google 8a Smartphone July 2026.

" The above image was captured by our sponsor George Roberts using his Google Pixel 8a phone. Now bearing in mind he is very 'Roger Moore' and a few marbles short of the full bag, not too shabby!  You can clearly see the stars Deneb, Vega and Altair and a number of nebulae including NGC 7000.

I have asked our engineer Jolene to design and build a 'gizmo' for fixing a smartphone to a tripod to see how well we might 'push' the performance of the Pixel 8a in its use for astrophotography. 

The above image was only captured and processed using the software, which came installed with the phone, so some improvements might be made both in terms of specialist capture software and post capture processing software. Watch this space"!  - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The same image data with a little post processing
using Infinity Photo software.

" Now why don't you try this at home with your smartphone and see if you can capture the 'Summer Milky Way' in all its splendour?" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the JPO, the UK's most easterly Astronomical Observatory.

The Lunt Herschel Wedge on the JPO 66mm ED Altair Lightwave Refractor.

 

The Full Solar Photosphere - a composite from several partial videos-images - data obtained with the 66mm ED Refractor, the Lunt Herschel Wedge and a QHY5lll462C video camera. Captured in the morning 26-06-2026 from the Jodrell Plank Observatory, Lowestoft, Suffolk UK.

Annotated version
showing the two main Sunspot Groups 4478 and 4479

Partial Photosphere

Enlarged detail showing Sunspot pair 4478

" The JPO Team was excited to try out the new Lunt Herschel Wedge and set up the old Star Adventurer EQ mobile rig using the 66mm ED Altair Astro Refractor and the QHY5lll462c low light video camera to capture data. The weather wasn't perfect for astrophotography with some wind and high level sky haze.

This was very much a trial run with the Herschel Wedge and we were quite pleased with its performance in  showing some detail in the sunspots, thermal convection cells and faculae.

We are looking forward to trying the 'wedge' on the JPO's large 127mm refractor.  I have asked Jolene our engineer, to design and manufacture an aperture reducing cover for the big refractor's objective lens as the 'wedge' can only work safely on telescopes having a maximum aperture of 80mm. We believe that with the aperture limited to 80mm and by using a x3 amplifying Barlow lens in the light train, significant improvements in enlarged sunspot detail will be achieved. Watch this space!"  - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Solar photosphere definition

 

" Kurt loves searching for and purchasing 'preloved or secondhand' astro equipment for the Jodrell Plank Observatory. The above is a Herschel Wedge. This can be used with telescopes having an aperture equal or less than 80mm in diameter. The wedge has an integral blocking filter, vents most of the remaining heat etc. via the prism and out of the wedge through a heat sink.  The Herschel Wedge delivers 'high definition' images of the Solar Photosphere in white light. We hope to use this new piece of kit to provide high definition images of sunspots at high magnification." - Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO still the UK's most easterly Astronomical Observatory.

M81 and M82 in a gravitational cosmic dance.

 

Galaxies M81 and M82 in Ursa Major. Captured at the JPO using the Seestar S30. Image credit: Kurt Thrust.

"Kurt is sitting in the 'Visitor Centre' after having been discharged from the hospital. With nothing much to do, he asked Google Gemini AI to create a time-lapse video clip of the gravitational interplay between the two spiral galaxies over 25 million years, using the above image and Astrophysics.

Now, here at the JPO, we all take AI with a big 'pinch of salt' and the following video may be more 'scraped' than 'calculated' but we all thought it was worth posting for general interest." - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Deep Time and the Cosmos

 

"As Einstein would have said, there is no preferred frame of reference. Everything in the cosmos is moving and separated by vast distances. Mostly from our frame of reference, both in time and space, stars and the like seem unchanging. This is only an illusion created by the brevity of human life compared with the life of stars and the enormous size of the Cosmos. 

Kurt, some time ago had captured an image of the Plough asterism in the constellation Ursa Major the Great Bear and I decided to ask Google Gemini AI to create a stop motion video clip showing how his image of the Plough would change over 10 million years in 500,000 year increments. The AI was tasked with taking into account relative movement and the life and death of stars. I was rather impressed by the result which I assume is realistic as well as beautiful" - Joel Cairo CEO the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Kurt Thrust is unwell.

 

Image Credit: SOHO Solar Observatory. Lower image derived from the SOHO image and processed by Kurt on his smartphone.

" The trouble with having a very old astronomer, like Kurt Thrust as the Observatory Director, is that sooner or later they become a bit unwell and unable to do their job. Quite honestly, the JPO Team has been covering for him for some time and we all have been keeping him going with a steady stream of tea, sympathy and incontinence pads. Anyway and quite unexpectedly, Kurt was admitted to hospital for tests but we hope to see his return to the Observatory in the next few days. In the meantime, he has insisted that posts should continue and that the blog should not go 'Dark'. What an astronomical trooper!🔭🤣" Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO the UK's most easterly Astronomical Observatory

" The above images showing the  current view of the solar photosphere were obtained and derived from the SOHO satellite. I was rather annoyed, that I wasn't back at the Jodrell Plank Observatory and able to image sunspot group 4465 using the 127mm apo refractor, a Baader white light filter and our latest fast video camera. I'm down but not out! " Kurt Thrust still the current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Flaming Star in the constellation Auriga - NGC 405

 

NGC 405 The Flaming Star Reflection Nebula in the Constellation Auriga.
Seestar S30. Processed in RGB -SHO palette. Image Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" The one thing we have in depth at the Jodrell Plank Observatory is data! Loads of the stuff held; on drives, memory sticks and discs from times gone by! So when the nights become short in summer or when the weather takes a turn for the worse, our team at the JPO resort to the existing data for 'shots and giggles'.

This afternoon our specialist imaging engineer, Pip Stakkert, used a variety of software to process data captured with our Seestar S30. 

NGC 405, the Flame Nebula, in the constellation Auriga, is an interesting nebula in that it exhibits both emission and reflection nebulosity. This however, makes processing tricky. Pip decided to use the SHO (Sulphur, Hydrogen and Oxygen) colour palette and this very much enabled the blue emission nebula to be 'showcased' against the very bright Hydrogen Alpha nebulosity, which in standard RGB format overwhelms it". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

NGC 405 The Flaming Star Nebula

"The Flaming Star Nebula, designated IC 405, is a complex emission and reflection nebula located approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Auriga. It is one of the most striking examples of a nebular region in which both ionized gas and interstellar dust contribute significantly to the observed appearance.

At the heart of the nebula lies the hot, blue O-type star AE Aurigae, whose intense ultraviolet radiation interacts with the surrounding interstellar medium. The red portions of IC 405 are produced by emission nebula processes: ultraviolet photons from AE Aurigae ionize hydrogen atoms within the gas cloud, and when the electrons recombine with the hydrogen nuclei, they emit characteristic red hydrogen-alpha radiation. Interwoven with these glowing regions are blue filaments and wisps formed by reflection nebula processes, where microscopic dust grains scatter and reflect the blue light of the star. This combination of red emission and blue reflection gives the nebula its distinctive colour contrast.

The nebula's dramatic “flaming” appearance arises from complex filamentary structures of gas and dust that seem to stream away from AE Aurigae in long-exposure images. Current evidence suggests that AE Aurigae is a runaway star, moving at high velocity through the interstellar medium after being ejected from the region of the Orion Nebula several million years ago. As the star travels through the cloud, its radiation and stellar wind compress, heat, and illuminate the surrounding material, helping to shape the nebula's intricate morphology.

Infrared and ultraviolet observations have revealed that IC 405 contains not only ionized hydrogen but also molecular hydrogen, warm dust, and complex carbon-bearing molecules. The interaction between AE Aurigae and the nebular material produces shock fronts and regions of enhanced heating, making IC 405 an important laboratory for studying the physics of star–cloud interactions, dust scattering, molecular excitation, and the evolution of the interstellar medium".

Scientifically, the Flaming Star Nebula is therefore not merely a visually beautiful object; it is a dynamic astrophysical environment in which radiation, gas dynamics, dust physics, and stellar motion combine to create a remarkable example of an emission–reflection nebular complex". - Professor G.P.T Chat visiting astrophysicist at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The same image of NGC405 but rendered in modified RGB palette.