Mu Cephei -The Garnet Star.

 

Mu Cephei, Red Hyper-giant star in the  constellation Cepheus. Image Credit: Pip Stakkert at the JPO. Data Credit: PIRATE robotic telescope, Tenerife. Open Observatories, Open University, telescope.org.

" Mu Cephei also known as 'The Garnet Star' and discovered by William Herschel in 1783, is high over the JPO at the moment. We hope, at some point, to use one of our many spectrometers to capture its interesting spectrum (Spectral Class M2 la)

The star has a radius roughly 1500 times the radius of our Sun. If it were to take the place of the Sun, its surface would extend to somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Saturn.

It is only 10 million years old but because of its size, it has used all of its non metal fuse-able fuel. It will at some point relatively soon, lose the battle with gravity and implode as a core collapse supernova to end its days as a Black Hole.

Thankfully, 'The Garnet Star' is a very long way from Earth at an estimated distance between 2400 and 2900 light years! We will be quite safe!

". -Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Making every photon count!

 

" The revised design spectrometer with a 50 lines/mm grating is virtually complete. This design maintains the Seestar's 30mm aperture throughout the light train. We hope to make every photon count and maximise the brightness of spectra captured. 

The washing line clamps (aka pegs) in the above photograph are surprisingly effective, when supergluing PETG plastic parts together.

We did receive complaints from our sponsor, Anita, who was trying to get the JPO laundry dry ! 🤣

Jolene has also 3d printed sufficient parts to make a 80 lines/mm spectrometer but unfortunately we have run out of the appropriate film grating. We have placed two orders with companies in China and await delivery sometime in mid November.

Weather forecasts for the next couple of days in Lowestoft are not good, so it might be some time before we can test this revised device.

Professor Chrissy H has started compiling the code for the new spectra processing software but has informed me that it will probably be computer based rather than a phone app. It will also be generic rather than solely useable with the Seestar smartscope range.

So all is moving forward 👍" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory 

Boldly going forward

 

" Jolene has just completed a redesign of the transmission grating holder in three parts, and removes the fixing lugs, which reduced the overall aperture of the Seestar. Hopefully, this will increase the brightness of spectra captured and enable 1 minute duration lights to be captured and stacked without rejection by the Seestar's onboard Firmware.

Sadly, the Seestar functions with either the Light Pollution filter in place or the UV infrared filter in place. The LP filter drastically cuts the spectra into two sections and is therefore best turned off. The infra red filter which then switches automatically into place creates a gap (400-420nm) and dimming (480-490nm) in the blue section of the spectrum, which can be seen in the image below (400-490nm). We wondered whether this gap could be used in the calibration process?"  - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

NGC 7332 and NGC 7339, Galaxies in Pegasus

 

Edge on Galaxies, NGC 7332 and NGC 7339. PIRATE robotic telescope, Tenerife. BVR filters. Data Credit: Open Observatories, Open University, telescope.org. Image processing: Pip Stakkert at the JPO.

"These two galaxies are NGC 7332 and NGC 7339, a visually striking pair located approximately 67 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus.   

NGC 7332 (Right): A bright, edge-on lenticular galaxy is noted for its distinct "peanut-shell" boxy bulge created by an internal stellar bar.   

NGC 7339 (Left): An edge-on spiral galaxy forms a gravitationally bound, interacting pair with NGC 7332". - Gary Gemini Coms Manager at the JPO. 

The Cat's Head Nebula in the Constellation Carina

 

" It is an absolute shame that the Constellation Carina, visible from the Southern Hemisphere, cannot be seen from the Jodrell Plank Observatory, located in the United Kingdom. There are just so many interesting objects to image in this constellation. Kurt is a regular reader of the NASA internet site and was much impressed by this James Webb Telescope image of the Cat's Head Nebula. The following is the NASA description copied from the site. We would recommend visiting the NASA website where there are more related images and videos" - Joel Cairo CEO of the JPO the UK's most easterly Astronomical Observatory. 

Cat’s Head Nebula (Webb MIRI Image)

Mid-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. A bluish-gray filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a triangular peak of dust. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a white glowing eye. The background is mostly red, with the top left and right corners revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left is a dome-shaped grouping of faint filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes.

In NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared image, emission from warm dust and carbon-based molecules excited by starlight outlines intricate structures within the nebula. Changes in local conditions and compositions cause variations in color and brightness. Fine strands and globules are especially apparent to the left of the main pillar.

To the right of the pillar, a bright yellow light source is seen against reddish mid-infrared emission, probably an infant star embedded in dust. A narrow filament appears to cross the likely star, although its physical relationship to the star is not established. Several blue stars are scattered throughout, some with Webb’s characteristic diffraction spikes.

About the Object

R.A. Position

10:45:59.76

Dec. Position

-60:06:23.76

Constellation

Carina

Distance

7,500 - 8,500 light-years

Dimensions

Image is about 5.3 arcmin across (about 12.3 light-years)

About the Data

Data Description

This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 12591 (M. Garcia Marin).

Instrument

MIRI

Exposure Dates

May 27, 2026

Filters

F770W, F1130W, F1500W

Object Name

NGC 3372; HH 903; Cat's Head Nebula; Carina Nebula

Object Description

Star forming region; Emission Nebula; HII region

Release Date

October 29, 2026

Science Release

Ghostly Cat’s Head Nebula Lurks Within Sight of NASA’s Hubble, Webb

Credit

Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Mid-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. A bluish-gray filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a triangular peak of dust. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a white glowing eye. The background is mostly red, with the top left and right corners revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left is a dome-shaped grouping of faint filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes.

Color Info

This image was acquired by the MIRI instrument on the Webb Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample varying wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue=F770W, Green=F1130W, Red=F1500W

Double Cluster NGC 869 and NGC 884 in the Constellation Perseus

 

Two versions of the Double Cluster
captured with the JPO Seestar S30 in EQ mode
 by Kurt Thrust

" The Double Cluster is a delight to see through the eyepiece of a widefield telescope. It is however, very difficult to photograph it's visual splendour. We have imaged this Northern Hemisphere astro-highlight a number of times using different telescope-camera set-ups. We believe this most recent image, obtained with the little Seestar S30 is our best to date". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Two cropped versions: the second with reduced star fringing (removed using James Ritson's Actions for Affinity Photo 3

More Clean Room Activity

 

Completed Seestar Spectrometers in dust proof cases. Each with a desicant sachet. Refurbished 500 lines/mm spectrometer for attachment at eyepiece end of the JPO's 127mm. and 66mm. Refractor telescopes.

Spectra captured on 27-10-2026 using the Seestar S30 and the 50 lines per mm Spectrometer. (Late additions).

"Jolene has done her bit and we hope, weather permitting, to use the Seestar S30 tonight to capture some stellar spectra with the 50 lines per mm. spectrometer". If all works well, we will upload images captured to this post, later tonight or tomorrow( See above and below)." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Vega in Lyra - Zero and First order spectra with stars as captured.