Embedded Files
Below you'll find details of special astronomy highlights and tips on how to capture them. These can be booked as an outdoor night workshop or indoor/online training session.
Please contact me to discuss your interest as all activities are bespoke.
2025: A Stellar Year for Stargazing and Astrophotography
2025: A Stellar Year for Stargazing and Astrophotography
Amateur astronomers and stargazers are in for a treat in 2025, with a huge variety of celestial events on display. Here are just a few of the highlights for the year ahead:
Meteor Showers:
Meteor Showers:
Plenty of meteor showers will peak throughout the year, offering chances to see shooting stars and perhaps even a fireball or two, here are a few of this year's best:. The Quadrantids in January peak on the 3rd and 4th but continue up to the 12th and is famous for bright fireballs. The Geminids peak on 14th December. The Perseids in August are usually another highlight but this year coincides with an almost full moon so only the brightest will be visible to the naked eye.
Lunar and Solar Eclipses:
Lunar and Solar Eclipses:
A partial and a total lunar eclipse turning the Moon a dramatic red colour, and a partial solar eclipse will be visible in the UK in 2025.
March 14, 2025: Partial Lunar Eclipse
March 29, 2025: Partial Solar Eclipse
September 7, 2025: Total Lunar Eclipse
Planetary Encounters:
Planetary Encounters:
Watch for close approaches of bright planets. On 4th January there will be a lunar occultation of Saturn, meaning Saturn will appear to pass behind the Moon. On January 12th Mars makes its closest approach to Earth as it approaches opposition on the 16th when it will appear at its largest and brightest. On January 18th Venus will come close to Saturn in the early evening sky and will also be joined by a crescent moon on the 18th. Venus will appear (through a telescope) as a beautiful crescent from mid February through to mid March when it is also at its largest. In August, Venus and Jupiter will appear very close together in the sky before dawn on the 12th. In September Venus will pass behind the moon on the 19th and on the 21st Saturn will reach opposition and so be at its best for observing.
Aurora:
Aurora:
2025 is still the Solar Maxima and hence the best time for decades to see the aurora. It kicked off the New Year with spectacular displays and potential peak activity times could be around the Spring Equinox although it’s all down to the sunspots! After 2025 it’s likely to be another 11 years at least before it's as active again.
Comets:
Comets:
Keep an eye out for potential comet sightings. Several comets are predicted to pass through our solar system in 2025, and some could become visible to the naked eye or with binoculars.
Galaxies:
Galaxies:
There are always some galaxies visible in the night sky but February, March and April are particularly good months to view many different galaxies particularly with the aid of a telescope.
Milky Way:
Milky Way:
The milky way forms a beautiful arch in the sky visible from dark locations from Spring through to early Autumn. It’s actually at its best in July and August when the brighter core is at its highest.
Tips for Stargazing:
Tips for Stargazing:
Find a dark location away from city lights.
Allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness for about 20 minutes (use a red torch light to preserve your night vision).
Use a telescope or binoculars for a closer view.
Consult a stargazing guide or app such as the free Stellarium for information on specific events and constellations and to help find objects in the sky.
With a little planning, you can make 2025 a year of astronomical discovery with Peak Astronomy’s Stargazing and Astronomy Experiences or make it the year to develop new Astrophotography skills with our bespoke training and practical workshops.
Comets
Comets
October 2024: Comet C/2023 A3 - our next major comet experience?
October 2024: Comet C/2023 A3 - our next major comet experience?
Around mid October we are forecast to experience the next major comet highlight with the arrival of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS).
This comet has been followed closely since it was first discovered early last year. Forecasts are projecting potential great things from this comet, which is likely to be visible to the naked eye in October.
There were fears that it was starting to break up as it approached the sun but NASA has just confirmed it's looking good after completing its close pass of the sun and is now heading away again and towards Earth. At the beginning of October we may just catch sight of it on the horizon just before dawn in the East. It is forecast to be at it's brightest at this time. The best observing however is likely to be a 2 week period from mid October when it will be visible in the West just after sunset and climbing higher in the darkening sky each evening. It will by now be steadily heading away from Earth and losing its brightness but still likely to be visible in telescopes into November and probably with binoculars up to the end of October.
One thing to remember though is that comets are very unpredictable!
March / April 2024: Once in 70 year chance to see Comet 12P / Pons-Brooks
March / April 2024: Once in 70 year chance to see Comet 12P / Pons-Brooks
Your best chance of catching comet 12P / Pons-Brooks was between March 27th - April 10th before it disappeared again for another 71 years. Don't worry though there are plenty more throughout the year and new ones being discovered on a regular basis.
What to Expect:
What to Expect:
The comet's coma (the fuzzy green head in this image) and potentially dust and ion tails are often visible through a telescope, pair of binoculars or a camera. Occasionally they are visible to the naked eye as with comet Neowise in 2020.
(click here to find out more about how to photograph comets)
Gear:
Gear:
Camera: A DSLR or mirrorless camera with manual controls is ideal.
Lens: A telephoto lens (200mm or more) will bring out the comet's details but you’ll ideally need a star tracker to take longer exposures. A focal length of about 50mm will still capture it and enable exposures of around 5 seconds.
Telescope: If you have one!
Tripod: Essential for long exposures and keeping your camera steady.
Remote Shutter Release or timer delay (optional): Minimizes camera shake during exposure.
Intervalometer or time lapse mode (optional): Useful for capturing a series of images that can then be “stacked” later.
Finding the Comet:
Finding the Comet:
Online Resources: I recommend using the free Stellarium mobile app or their website or other mobile apps like SkySafari to help you locate your comet in the night sky.
Timing is often key: Comets are often brightest when getting close to the sun and this means they are often low in the sky at either dusk or dawn but other less bright comets could be visible at any time of the night. If using Stellarium then after selecting the comet click on visibility and you can see when it's highest in the sky.
See in the dark: Head somewhere dark if possible. Give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness (ideally 20 minutes), and you'll have a better chance of spotting the faint comet. If you have a torch with a red bulb this will protect your night vision. Just a few seconds from a bright torch, light or car headlights can interrupt your night vision for another 20 minutes.
Photography Tips:
Manual Mode: Take control of your camera settings for optimal results.
Exposure: Experiment with exposure times (starting around 5 seconds for a 50mm lens) to capture the comet's details without blowing out the background.
Avoid star trails: As the Earth is rotating the stars (and comet) are slowly moving across the sky. The longest exposure with a 50mm lens to still have pinpoint stars is about 5 seconds. With a 200mm lens it’s less than 2 seconds.
ISO: A higher ISO (around 1600 or higher) will increase light sensitivity but can introduce noise. Find the right balance for your shot unless stacking multiple images.
Focus: Use manual focus and live view to ensure the comet is sharp. I tend to focus my camera and lens in daylight on a distant object or cloud and then switch off autofocus and apply a piece of tape to stop the focus being rotated.
Stacking: Taking multiple exposures and stacking them in post-processing software will produce much better results, reveal fainter details and vastly reduce the grainy noise. There are a number of free software tools such as Deep Sky Stacker, Sequator and SiriL that can stack your images.
Book a night with me: at www.peakastronomy.co.uk and I’ll teach you what you need to know and we can also use my equipment if you wish.
Aurora (Northern Lights)
Aurora (Northern Lights)
The solar cycle reaches its peak soon so now's the time to learn to capture it.
The solar cycle reaches its peak soon so now's the time to learn to capture it.
I've lost count of the number of times I've captured the Aurora over the last 12 months and these have included the best display I've seen in my life.
What to Expect:
What to Expect:
Knowing when to head out to capture the aurora is as important as knowing how. The media is currently full of news articles about "amazing displays tonight", mostly based on inaccurate and out of date information. Many of the aurora apps tend to notify you after it's already peaked. Don't worry though if you know what to look for you can get a good indication of potential activity 2 or 3 days in advance and a high degree of probability 1 hour before it hits.
(click here to find out more about how to photograph or create timelapses of the aurora)
Lens: A wide angle lens is ideal for the aurora. A focal length of up to about 50mm is great but wider is better. My best shots are actually from a 360° camera with back to back 190° fish eye lenses.
Telescope: not for the aurora!
Tripod: Essential for long exposures and keeping your camera steady.
Remote Shutter Release or timer delay (optional): Minimizes camera shake during exposure.
Intervalometer or time lapse mode (optional): Useful for capturing a series of images that can then be “stacked” later or used to create a timelapse video.
Catching the aurora:
Catching the aurora:
Online Resources: Knowing when to head out to capture the aurora is as important as knowing how. The media is currently full of news articles about "amazing aurora displays tonight", mostly based on inaccurate and out of date information. Many of the aurora apps tend to notify you after it's already peaked. Don't worry though, if you know what to look for you can get a good indication of potential activity 2 or 3 days in advance and a high degree of probability 1 hour before it hits. I can advise you on this and teach you how to identify when to head out.
I recommend using the free Glendale Aurora mobile app or the space weather website to help you determine when an aurora is likely to happen.
Timing is often key: Auroras often only peak for a short time, from a few minutes but occasionally lasting a few hours. Being ready with your kit and having a location selected is key, plus watching the weather forecast to catch a location with a clear sky.
See in the dark: Head somewhere as dark if possible. Give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness (ideally 20 minutes), and you'll have a better chance of spotting the faint comet. If you have a torch with a red bulb this will protect your night vision. Just a few seconds from a bright torch, light or car headlights can interrupt your night vision for another 20 minutes.
The aurora is usually fairly faint and at these levels of brightness your eyes can't see colour! Most people who look for the aurora think it's not happening as they can't see it but that's often not the case. You almost always need to take a photo to confirm it's visible.
Photography Tips:
Manual Mode: Take control of your camera settings for optimal results.
Exposure: Experiment with exposure times (starting around 2 to 5 seconds) to capture the auroras details without blowing out the brighter areas of the sky and without blurring the auroras motion too much.
Use a tripod: A tripod is a must really although you can sometimes get away with propping your camera or phone up against something for a single shot.
ISO: A higher ISO (around 1600 or higher) will increase light sensitivity but will introduce noise.
Focus: Focus on infinity, ideally using manual focus. I tend to focus my camera and lens in daylight on a distant object or cloud and then switch off autofocus and apply a piece of tape to stop the focus moving.
Timelapse: Taking multiple exposures and combining them into a timelapse video is one of the best ways to capture the full beauty of the aurora.
Book a night with me: at www.peakastronomy.co.uk and I’ll teach you what you need to know and we can also use my equipment if you wish.
Planets - Autumn and winter are planet season this year🪐
Planets - Autumn and winter are planet season this year🪐
Mercury
Mercury
Mercury is starting to become good to observe in the East before sunrise from the end of August, and will be at its best for observing by 5th September when it rises 90 minutes before the sun. It will remain visible through to mid September.
Mercury returns to the morning sky in December when it will be at its largest and highest in the pre-dawn sky, reaching its best on 23rd December when it rises in the South East 2hrs before the sun. It will remain good to observe and photograph into early January 2025.
Venus
Venus
Venus returns as our "evening star" in western skies throughout winter. Starting from the beginning of November and getting quite high in the dark sky from December. It will become particularly spectacular during the second half of February 2025 when it will be in its crescent phase.
Mars
Mars
Mars is high in the sky already but is fairly small when viewed from Earth at the moment. This really starts to improve from December when it will be much brighter and almost twice the diameter that it is at the moment. Things continue to improve through to mid January 2025 when it reaches its largest on the 13th and also makes a very close pass of the full moon (Conjunction) 1 day later about 3hrs before dawn. Mars will actually pass behind the moon (Lunar Occultation) on December the 18th from around 09:15 to 10:15. Despite occurring during daylight if the sky is clear it will be visible through a telescope (and easy to locate through the moon’s position).
Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is going to be great to observe for the rest of the year and through 2025 as well. It will also be very high in the sky later this year, where the air is less turbulent and hence perfect for viewing and imaging through telescopes. At the end of August Jupiter is fairly high in the pre-dawn Eastern sky and by the beginning of October it will reach 60° above the horizon (above Orion). It remains at a similar maximum height all winter, but will be reaching its highest point (always when due South) earlier each night as the months progress. By December this will be around midnight and it will also reach opposition (closest to Earth) on the 7th. By the beginning of March, Jupiter will be at its maximum height just as it gets dark in the evening.
Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is at its highest in the sky (around 30°) during darkness for the rest of the year, making it good for observation. The angle of Saturn's tilt in relation to Earth is particularly interesting as it becomes directly aligned with Earth in March 2025 meaning that the rings will appear so thin that they disappear. This however also means that Saturn's largest moon Titan will start to cast shadows on the planet from early November, a pretty rare occurrence. Titan's shadow transit will be visible on Nov 4th & 20th, December 6th & 22nd).
Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is so distant that the ice giant is always going to be very small and relatively faint but it's high in the pre-dawn sky at the moment and by February will be highest in the sky as darkness falls in the evening. You will still need a powerful telescope and very clear and stable air to see any details, however it is still beautiful to observe with lower powered telescopes due to its blue-green colour.
Neptune
Neptune
Finally, even more difficult to observe or image than Uranus, the most distant of the main planets is Neptune. Neptune is currently highest in the pre-dawn sky but getting earlier as the year progresses and will be at its highest just after dark by the end of December.
(click here to find out more about how to view and photograph the planets)
Gear:
Gear:
Camera: A DSLR or mirrorless camera with manual controls is OK. A dedicated astronomy camera is better, or a planetary camera that can capture fairly high speed video is ideal.
Lens: A fairly wide angle lens will capture the planets as very bright "stars", this can be ideal when multiple bright planets form a line across the sky. A long telephoto lens (500mm or more) will enable you to capture a single planet such as Saturn and Jupiter and some of their brighter moons.
Telescope: If you have one then anything with a focal length of around 500mm or more will enable you to also see the phases of the brighter planets such as venus and you will start to see the colour bands on Jupiter and Saturn's rings. The brighter planets are great for visual astronomy as using a small focal length eyepiece will magnify the image greatly, much more so than you will see with a camera attached to the same telescope.
To photograph the planets you can use a technique called eyepiece projection where your camera (mobile phones are good for this) look down the telescope through the eyepiece.
For the best photographs you really need a dedicated planetary camera or guide camera combined with a long focal length telescope (e.g. 1300mm or 2500mm) with a large aperture. I use a 9.25"/235mm aperture scope with a focal length of 2350mm together with a 2xBarlow lens which doubles the focal length to 4.7m. I then attach a colour guide/planetary camera with a very small sensor.
Tripod: Essential with long focal lengths for keeping your camera steady or a mount for a telescope (ideally a tracking mount as the planet will rapidly move out of view due to the narrow field of view).
Remote Shutter Release or timer delay (optional): Minimizes camera shake although for bright planets a short exposure is usually possible.
Intervalometer or time lapse mode (optional): Useful for capturing a series of images that can then be “stacked” later.
Finding the planets:
Finding the planets:
Online Resources: I recommend using the free Stellarium mobile app or their website or other mobile apps like SkySafari to help you locate the planets in the night sky, although for Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and often Mars too they are often the brightest objects in the night sky apart from the moon.
Timing is often key: The planets are often either not visible at night or too low in the sky at either dusk or dawn. If using the Stellarium app then after selecting the planet click on visibility and you can see when it's highest in the sky during darkness. In 2024 Autumn and Winter and in some cases early Spring 2025 will be good times to see them.
See in the dark: Head somewhere dark if possible. Give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness (ideally 20 minutes), and you'll have a better chance of spotting the faint comet. If you have a torch with a red bulb this will protect your night vision. Just a few seconds from a bright torch, light or car headlights can interrupt your night vision for another 20 minutes.
Photography Tips:
Manual Mode: Take control of your camera settings for optimal results.
Exposure: Experiment with exposure times. For the bight planets you can often use very short exposures.
ISO: A higher ISO (around 1600 or higher) will increase light sensitivity but can introduce noise. Find the right balance for your shot unless stacking multiple images.
Focus: Use manual focus and live view to ensure the comet is sharp. I tend to focus my camera and lens in daylight on a distant object or cloud and then switch off autofocus and apply a piece of tape to stop the focus being rotated.
Stacking: Taking multiple exposures and stacking them in post-processing software will produce much better results, reveal fainter details and vastly reduce the grainy noise. There are a number of free software tools such as Deep Sky Stacker, Sequator and SiriL that can stack your images.
Lucky Imaging: For photographing planets a special technique caller Lucky Imaging is often used. The biggest problem when photographing the planets is their tiny size when viewed from Earth. You therefore have to use very long focal lengths and tiny camera sensors for them to be big enough to see surface details or their phase. At these levels of magnification the movement of the air combined with humidity, atmospheric dust and other atmospheric distortions can blur the image to such an extent that you can hardly see the shape of the planet never mind any details. Lucky Imaging uses video to capture many frames per second (ideally 50 to 100 or more). Specialist planetary stacking software with then analyse perhaps 1000 or even 10000 or more frames captured to determine which have the least distortion. You are basically looking for short periods when the air the telescope is looking through is stable. You may then only stack the best 100 or 20% of the frames depending on how they look in a "quality graph".
Don't get in a spin: You may be surprised to discover that the big planets, especially Jupiter and Saturn rotate really fast. A day there lasts roughly 10 hours. This has implications for photographing surface details. As a rough rule of thumb, the longest time you can capture images to stack is 3 min for Jupiter and 5 mins for Saturn, although it depends on the field of view of each pixel, the clarity of the air (or seeing), what stacking software you use etc. Much longer than this and you will end up with a blurred image due to surface features having moved (unless you use clever de-rotation software!)
Book a night with me: at www.peakastronomy.co.uk and I’ll teach you what you need to know and we can also use my equipment if you wish.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse