June 2026 – IMT3b Observatory

Viewing Report 25th June 2026

19:00 – 21:30

This evening I went along to the BAS solar viewing session. We had great fun. I took along my S50 and set about taking an image of the solar surface.

We were setup by the school at Cliddesden.

A small Lunt was also providing some lovely views.

I got a quick look at the Moon

Then I helped one of our members, Chris, setup his solar scope and get it into focus using an extended imaging train.

Success

This is real astronomy 😉

Viewing Report 24th June 2026

22:50 – 03:05

I setup with the 150 Esprit in the dome and both the Seestar S30 Pro and the S50.

I set about using the S30 Pro to capture M16 and M17 in a single frame. This was really my first time using the smart scope in earnest.

Meanwhile I setup the 150 Esprit to capture M13.

I stayed with this until the light started to increase and then went to bed. The final unprocessed image straight from the S30 Pro is below.

Once I had processed using PixInsight from the S30 Pro it looked so much better.

On the S50 I took some data on IC 1284.

S50 stacked image of IC 1284 processed in PI

Viewing Report 23rd June 2026

22:42 – 23:32

I’m out with the 22″ Obsession again doing visual. The images below are from the Moon Globe HD app on my iPhone, not focal this time. I have included as an aid to what I saw visually.

Time – 22:42 / Object – Moon / Eyepiece – 31mm Nagler

Mare Imbrium looks very clear and so large

I could see huge Plato crater and Archemedeis to the top. I could make out 3 small craters, Bancroft, Beer and Feuillee before getting to Timocharis near the terminator.

I could just make out Heinrich and then Pytheis at the terminator

Huge Clavius to the top
I then switched eyepieces

Time – 23:15 / Object – Moon / Eyepiece – 13mm Ethos

• ⁃ Beer & Feuillee stand out so much more. Also Montes Archimedes is very prominent and the 3 main ranges. We are in the middle of a heatwave with a very unusual heat dome sitting over my part of England. This is causing the air to be very still and thus the seeing is astonishing. The Moon is still not wobbling at all.

Viewing Report 19th June 2026

22:14 – 22:54

Time – 22:14 / Object – Moon / Eyepiece – 31mm

Mare Tranquillitatis, above Rupes Cauchy I can see what looks like the straight wall a rile going diagonally 9 o’clock to 4 o’clock and Rima Cauchy below the crater and the Hussain crater below that at 4 0’clock
Back in Mare Fecundities I can see rays coming off the crater to the right of Messier crater
In Mare Nectaris, crater Rosse is very obvious
At this point there was some cloud to the South West as the Moon was setting behind my neighbours tree

Time – 22:38 / Object – M106 / Eyepiece – 31mm

M106 not seen due to cloud, I could see HD 107610 though

Time – 22:41 / Object – M12 / Eyepiece – 31mm

Moved to south east near Vega where no cloud.
M12, seen with direct vision, faint against bright sky. I could see a fairly bright star to the top on the outside of the cluster. Not sure if it is part of the cluster or not

Time – 22:53 / Object – M10 / Eyepiece – 31mm

M10 seen direct vision. Slightly brighter than M12 but not prominent star. Then it got cloudy so packed up

Viewing Report 18th June 2026

22:15-00:47

Using the 22” Obsession dobsonian tonight.

The temperature was 17° at midnight and 80% humidity, clear and dry

Time – 22:15 / Object – Moon / Eyepiece – 31mm

Note that all observations are made North South flipped. First I viewed Mare Crisium
Picard and then Peirce and the smaller Swift crater can be seen easily
In Petavius crater you can see Rimae Petavius and a small crater to the top
Mare Fecundities you can see ripples on the floor

Time – 23:20 / Object – M5 / Eyepiece – 31mm

5 Serpentis can be seen in the same FoV
M5 has a compact centre and I can make out a couple of prominent stars to the top right of the cluster in a line from 4 o’clock to 10 o’clock

Time – 23:50 / Object – M51 / Eyepiece – 31mm

I can easily make out M51 and the interacting NGC 5195 with direct vision, although I cannot see the connecting spiral arms. I can see some of the spiral just not extending all the way to the adjacent NGC

Time – 00:02 / Object – M63 / Eyepiece – 31mm

This spiral galaxy is seen with direct vision
I can seen a mag 11.53 star and 3 others in a line starting with Tyc 3024-1007-1
I can see the bright star next to M63 although the galaxies spiral arms do not reach out as far to it as in a photo on Sky Safari. I can see 2 faint stars diagonally placed on the opposite side of the galaxy in the plane of the disc, not sure of the names

Time – 00:17 / Object – M94 / Eyepiece – 31mm

A very bright and tight core easily seen direct vision, so much tighter than the previous M63

Time – 00:24 / Target – M86 and M84 / Eyepiece – 31mm

• Both galaxies can be seen but they are very faint. I can make out the very faint edge on spiral which is probably an NGC, however I cannot find a reference as of yet. This forms a triangle with the two Messier objects as can be seen in this screenshot from TheSkyX.

Unknown galaxy South East of M84 and M86

Viewing Report 9th June 2026

11pm – 01:53

I opened the dome tonight and looked to image something with the Esprit 150. I quickly found a Lynds Dark Nebula in the Milky Way just rising, LDN 621

This was particularly low down when I started imaging at 23º altitude. The sky was still rather bright as we were approaching the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere on 21st June. There is definitely some interesting structure within this part of the sky, I will surely revisit once astronomical darkness returns and the altitude is higher.

Viewing Report 8th June 2026

11pm – 2:30am

I collected the new ZWO Seestar S30 Pro (S30P) today. I thought Luke and I could give it a little run, even though astronomical darkness is no longer with us until August.

I setup the S30P here on the observatory patio. Luke setup the S50 at his house. We then took a variety of test images on both to compare the different scopes.

Whilst I waited for darkens to fall I took a quick phot of Venus and Jupiter close together on my iPhone.

Then we setup the S30P so that it could be used remotely. You can share the scope but only 1 person can be logged in at any one time.

First we tested out just getting focus on Arcturus and seeing what FoV we would get with the much larger chip of the S30P.

Next we slewed to M13. Given the light nights it’s better not going for a galaxy or nebula.

Then I went fore M27 on the S50 only but I had problems with red banding on the photo. It must have been some interference, however I was not quite sure I knew from where.

Then I did M10 on the S50. At the same time I did M92 on the S30P as M10 was poorly positioned.

I then tried a Milky Way shot but this was too faint due to the night sky being so very bright.

Lastly I set the S30P performing a short Star Trails image on Polaris.