The Rosette Nebula

 

NGC2244 The Seestar SS30 in action to create this Mosaic from +220x10sec subs and until the clouds rolled in. Subsequently processed using Affinity Photo, Prodigital Software gradient removal, GraXpert 3.0, Starnet GUI and StarSpikes Pro4. The Seestar SS30 works best on large bright objects like the Rosette Nebula. we are looking forward to using the SS30 in EQ mode!

" The Rosette Nebula, in the constellation Monoceros the Unicorn, is a large and bright nebula and so well suited to the Seestar S30. The above image was captured by the little robotic all in one observatory, running in 'mosaic mode'". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Partial Solar Eclipse - 29th March 2025

 

Time-lapse rendition of the 2 hour long eclipse.
Captured by Pip Stakkert using the Seestar S30. 

The Sun's Disc in eclipse at approximately 10:30am.
Captured with the 66mm. Altair Lightwave ED Refractor with an Observatory engineered (Jolene MqSquint-Fleming) 'white light filter'. QHY5iii462c planetary camera with IR cut filter double stacked with a red light filter. Credit: Kurt Thrust.

"The whole Jodrell Plank Observatory Team 'assembled' for the partial solar eclipse, which 'did not disappoint'. As regular readers of the blog will appreciate, the weather here on the coast in Lowestoft is not always 'great' for astro-imaging. The morning of the eclipse dawned fine and remained so until about 12:00, when the Moon left the solar disc. The cloud did build up over the two hour 'eclipse period' and required the time-lapse video, from the Seestar S30, to be reverse processed by: first, the conversion of the video into a series of still frames, second, the removal of frames worst affected by the cloud and third, the reanimation of the stills to create an 'animation Gif' ".

The detailed image above shows sunspots, faculae and surface granulation of the solar photosphere. It also clearly shows the Moon's limb together with undulations created by the uplifted rims of craters, which happened to be located there, when the data was captured. This image was created from three short video sequences. One for the Solar Northern Hemisphere and the second for the Southern. These videos were captured immediately prior to the start of the eclipse. The third very short video was captured at 10:30am, whilst the eclipse was underway. Software was used to convert videos one and two into a still image of the whole Solar disc. The still image of the eclipse, converted from third video clip, was then added to the complete solar disc". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy

 

Ngc 5194 and Ngc 5195 in the Constellation Canes Venatici - Seestar S30
 - images credit: Pip Stakkert

Widefield version of M51 - uncropped.

" The two galaxies Ngc 5194 and Ngc 5195 are interacting gravitationally and you can see a ribbon of gas, dust and stars extending through space from the dwarf galaxy Ngc 5195 (on the left of the image) to the spiral galaxy NGC 5194 (on the right). The galaxies are estimated to be between 23 and 31 light years distant. The spiral -  'The Whirlpool Galaxy' is just a little smaller than the Milky Way Galaxy and is thought to have interacted with the dwarf galaxy a number of times. Plumes of gas can be seen above and below the interacting pair" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

M51 COAST Robotic Telescope BVR filters. Mount Teide Tenerife. Data Credit: Open Observatories. telescope.org Open University. Processing Kurt Thrust.

Messier 3 -Globular Star Cluster in the Constellation Canes Venatici

 

Messier 3 imaged using the Seestar S30 with IR cut filter.
from the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Image credit: Kurt Thrust

" Messier 3 is a globular star cluster which may be viewed from the Northern Hemisphere using binoculars or a small telescope from a dark location. Its foot-print upon the night sky is both small and dim!

In reality, M3 is a spherical gravitational grouping of 500,000 stars. approximately 670 light years in diameter. It is located towards the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy some 34000 light years distant from Earth. Many of the stars are ancient and shine strongly at red wavelengths. The cluster is thought to be over 11 billion years old  which is a large proportion of the estimated existence of the known Universe.

The JPO team were astonished by how well the tiny Seestar S30 with its 30mm aperture lens system was able to resolve stars towards the centre of M3. Quite extraordinary!

Pip Stakkert is currently working upon processing data from last night where we used the Seestar to capture a mosaic multi-pane image of the Markarian Chain of Galaxies in Virgo" - Carl Segin Outreach Coordinator at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Uncropped version of Seestar S30 - M3

Re-process with
more stars and Ha

Dark Nebula - The Horsehead Nebula Barnard 33 - in the Constellation Orion

 

The Horsehead Nebula - 66mm Altair Lightwave ED refractor. Image Credit: Kurt Thrust.

"The weather in Lowestoft has taken for the better and we have experienced a short run of clear and steady nights. The JPO team has been busy testing the Seestar S30 and Pip Stackert is beginning to get used to the processing adjustments, which better suit the high number of 10 second duration subs that have to be stacked, cropped  and processed.

Whilst all this was going on, our Director, Kurt Thrust, took time out to capture an hour of 'early evening' data whilst the constellation Orion was due South. He used the Observatory Star Adventurer mini-rig, which is reasonably quick to set up and get photon catching. The camera used was an astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR with a clip in Altair Triband filter. 

The Horsehead Nebula is created by an enormous cloud of dense dust that is seen in silhouette against the backdrop of a bright emission nebula, which permeates much of the constellation Orion. The bright multi star system,  Alnitak, many times larger and brighter than our Sun - +30 times more massive, can be seen upper middle left in this image. For the keen eyed, you just might detect that the star shape is slightly deformed to its left by its largest and brightest sibling star. Before we stretched the illumination levels of this image, to bring out the fainter nebulosity, the sibling could be clearly resolved from its larger and brighter brother Alnitak. We were all surprised that such a small aperture telescope could pull this feat off! 

The very bright emission nebula NGC 2024 or The Flame Nebula, may be seen below Alnitak. The dark 'veins', so obvious in our image, are created by dust clouds between us and the bright emission nebula.

Emission nebulae are created by bright hot stars ionising clouds of gas, ie. energising electrons in the gas atoms, and as these atoms return to their initial or ground state, they release photons at specific wavelengths. At the JPO we do our best to 'catch them' as they fly our way!

We hope to post some of the Seestar S30 data in the near future. Fingers-crossed, the weather continues set fair. 

As a future project, we hope to use the Seestar S30 to create a three pane image of the Markarian Chain of Galaxies in the constellation Virgo". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 83, The Southern Pinwheel, Barred Spiral Galaxy in the constellation Hydra.

 

Messier 83 NGC 5236. Coast Robotic Telescope, Mount Teide, Tenerife. Data Credit:: Open Observatories, telescope .org, Open University. Image Credit Pip Stakkert.

"Sadly, this magnificent face on barred galaxy is too low and below our southern horizon in Lowestoft. The COAST telescope being located at high altitude and at a much lower northern latitude can however image it and here at the JPO, Pip Stakkert had fun processing the data

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, at a distance of 15 million light years is one of the brightest and closest barred galaxies to the Milky Way. 

There is plenty of star birth going on in the galaxy's spiral arms and there have been supernova recorded in this galaxy in recent times.

The above image shows a face on view of a galaxy that measures 118,000 light years across". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Bright Nebulae in the Northern Hemisphere Winter Sky

 

IC405 The Flaming Star Nebula
in the constellation Auriga.
 Seestar S30, 660x10 sec exposures
 F5 and f=150mm.
Credit: Kurt Thrust

The Running Man Nebular NGC 1977 and
 the Great Orion Molecular Cloud Messier 42.
Seestar S30, 660x10 sec exposures
 F5 and f=150mm. 
Credit: Joel Cairo

Messier 78 or NGC 2068 is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. Data Credit: COAST Robotic telescope BVR filters, Mount Teide Tenerife, telescope.org,
 Open Observatories, Open University. Image Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" Messier 42, the 'Great Orion Nebula', is the only one of the above, which may be seen with the naked eye or even better in binoculars. It is visible as a hazy blob within Orion's Dagger, which hangs down from the band of three stars known as Orion's belt. At this time of year the Constellation is visible from the Northern Hemisphere striding above the southern horizon. The Nebula is a nearby stellar nursery where new stars are forming from the gravitational collapse of cold hydrogen gas. Very young and intensely bright stars may be seen in our image in the bright central area, which is named the 'Trapezium'. M 42 is 1350 light years distant so when I said 'nearby' this was in 'astronomer speak'.

IC495, the 'Flaming Star Nebula' is both an emission and reflection nebula but is not visible to the naked eye. It is however, possible to see the irregular variable star AE Aurigae, which shines at its centre, with binoculars. 

Messier 78 is a reflection nebula located within the constellation but sadly is invisible to the naked eye. Gas and dust in this area reflect the ultra violet light generated by nearby young energetic blue stars.

The whole team at the Jodrell Plank Observatory enjoy using the Seestar S30 , which is a very user friendly device well suited to the beginner astro-imager.

 - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory. 

New Kit at the Jodrell Plank Observatory for 2025

 

M45 First Light for the SeeStar S30 credit: Joel Cairo

" The SeeStar S30 is a transportable mini observatory comprising a 30mm aperture ED telescope, filters, dew heater, camera and alt-az mount, all in one light weight package. As M45 was high in the sky and relatively bright, we programmed the SeeStar to capture three hours of 10 second exposures. The SeeStar's on board processor, live stacked the exposures and then we processed and cropped the stacked image, to create the above view of the 'Seven Sisters'. We believe, by changing our working method, even better images will be delivered by this small but mighty bit of kit, Watch this space!" -  Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The SeeStar S30 on its mini tripod, in the Jodrell Plank Observatory hospitality lounge. The bottle of wine was placed next to it to give an idea of scale of the mini-observatory. The SeeStar S30 weighs approximately 1.5 kg.

" On behalf of all the staff at the Jodrell Plank Observatory, I should like to thank our joint sponsor, Anita Roberts, for gifting the SeeStar S30 to the Observatory" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

A Night of Planets

 

Venus showing a crescent phase imaged at F22.5 early evening 25_01_2025 image Credit: Kurt Thrust

Mars at F22.5 just passed opposition in the early hours 26_01_2025 image
Credit: Pip Stakkert

Mars at F56 just passed opposition in the early hours 26_01_2025 image
Credit: Pip Stackkert

Jupiter at F22.5 early evening 25_01_2025 image
credit: Karl Segin

A compilation of Solar System highlights from the last 12months
 credit: Kurt Thrust.

" We finally had the opportunity and clear night in January 2025 to point our 127mm Apo refractor and QHY5iii462c camera at the planets;  Mars and Venus" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Sun 25_01_2025

 

The full Solar Disc in the morning  of 25_01_2025 imaged in white light (added false colour). Captured with a QHY5iii462c planetary video camera with double stacked pass and red light filters. Telescope used and Altair Astro 66mm ED refractor on a Star Adventurer EQ mount. Image Credit: Kurt Thrust

" Our nearest star is a rotating ball of gas, which  beautifully demonstrates the principle of  'conservation of angular momentum'. Unfortunately for us the rotation has temporarily taken the larger sunspots away from us. The image however does show some spots and obvious faculae associated with sunspot groups towards the left hand limb. We processed the image to emphasise the many solar convection cells which show as changes in albedo in  the solar photosphere and give, the Sun as imaged, an 'orange peel ' texture'. Many of these cells are as big as the whole Earth!" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Constellation Orion at 50mm

 

Orion imaged with an astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR, a triband filter and a Canon F1.6 f=50mm fixed lens. Image Credit: Kurt Thrust.

"The constellation Orion is truly magnificent at this time of year, when viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. As Orion sits within the field of view of a 50mm lens attached to the Observatory's DSLR cameras, I decided to see if I could capture Orion whole in a series of one frame shots. There is an obvious trade off in the quality of the star images, in particular a number of aberrations affect the stars toward  the edges of the field of view. However, we all agreed that the overall visual impact of the cropped image out weighed  the downside in star quality. The image was created from a stack of 45 x 1minute exposures (or subs) taken at ISO1600. The Moon, now just past 'First Quarter', was an issue, which was largely resolved by the use of a 'Triband Filter', which selectively limits the passage of light from the sky to the camera sensor, allowing only photons to pass within 3 designated wavelength bands". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

First Quarter Moon in the New Year 2025

 

A video clip captured at F6 using a QHY5iii462c planetary camera and stacked and processed using Affinity Photo 2.5, AS!4  and AstroClean - Image credit: Pip Stakkert.

Crescent Moon and Venus Conjunction from 03-01-2025. Composite image compiled from images captured with a Canon 600d DSLR and a 135 mm. Samyang lens. Credit: Kurt Thrust.

"Nice way to start the new year with our nearest celestial neighbour the beautiful new Moon" - Joel Cairo.