Observations of the Sun, the Moon, and Planets 2025

Observation Overview | Special Events | References

It was not until 2018 that I began to observe the moon a little more in detail and to document my "more important" observations. On this page, I collect, somewhat unsystematically, my observations of the moon, the sun, and the planets from 2025, which might be of interest to other beginners and are therefore described here.

Note: Older observations are listed on the "Astronomy" overview page. The same applies to deep sky and comet observations ("incidental" DSO observations are mentioned here).

 

Observation Overview

Date
2025
Objects Observed Location Devices Used Eyepieces, Cameras, and More Used Remarks Further Remarks
Jan 3 Venus, Moon Erk   Sony RX10 M4 Took photos of Venus and the Moon Crescent of the Moon, distance nearly 2° (conjunction)
Jan 4 Venus, Moon Erk   Sony RX10 M4 Took photos of Venus and the Moon Crescent of the Moon, distance nearly 13°
Jan 4 Saturn, Moon Erk   Sony RX10 M4 Took photos of Saturn and the Moon after Saturn was hidden by the Moon Crescent of the Moon; took only photos after Saturn had left the Moon
Jan 18 Saturn, Venus, Mars, Jupiter MH LT25, TLAPO804 Sony RX10 M4, Sony RX100 M4; 4 mm, 16 mm, 24 mm First observed Venus and Saturn with a small binoculars from the terrace: Saturn's ring not visible. I also took photos of both (RX10, RX100), but they did not turn out...
Then observed with the TLAPO804 telescope on the balcony: Venus and Saturn together (24 mm eyepiece, just fitted into the FOV), Saturn's ring could at best be guessed.
Observed individually, Venus was visible as a crescent (barely half) and the flat ring of Saturn was also visible (4 mm eyepiece). Mars was an unstructured disc with a 4 mm eyepiece; Jupiter only observed by eye.
Venus and Saturn were close together these days (2°10' minimum on Jan 18)
We also saw the ISS and Jupiter; Mars was nice and reddish to the eye. Fog came from the west and the sky was quite "bubbly" (poor seeing)...
Feb 1 Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter MH LT25, TLAPO804, Vespera Pro Sony RX10 M4; 4 mm, 10 mm, 16 mm, 24 mm, 32 mm Observed after 6 pm crescent moon and Venus with binoculars as well as TLAPO804 and different eyepieces (32, 24, 16, 10, 4 mm); Venus at 10 mm and 4 mm lying on its back recognizable as "almost" half Venus. Moon beautiful with "dots" of craters at the lower edge
TLAPO (from approx. 7 pm): Jupiter (4 moons seen, two on top of each other: Callisto and Ganymede; stripes hard to see, best with 10 mm)
Mars seen with the naked eye and small in TLAPO804
Vespera Pro: observed around 7:30 pm the crescent moon
Venus and Saturn were relatively close to each other on this day (4° 36')
TLAPO804: Moon and Venus found without finder, angle finder used from Jupiter onwards
Feb 2 Moon Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn MH LT25, Vespera Pro   Observed crescent moon and Venus with binoculars around 6 p.m.; also seen with the naked eye: Jupiter, Mars and 6:30 p.m. also Saturn
Vespera Pro: Observed the crescent moon at around 6:15 p.m.
 
Feb 4 Moon Venus, Mars, Jupiter MH LT25, Vespera Pro   Observed moon, Venus with binoculars/naked eye around 6:30 p.m. and later; also seen with the naked eye: Jupiter, Mars
Vespera Pro: Observed the nearly half moon at around 6:30 p.m.
 
Feb 7 Moon Venus, Jupiter MH Vespera Pro   Observed moon, Venus and Jupiter with the naked eye
Vespera Pro: Observed the nearly half moon at around 8:00 p.m.
 
Feb 8 Moon Venus, Jupiter MH Vespera Pro   Observed moon, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter with the naked eye
Vespera Pro: Observed the moon with golden handle between 6:25 and 7:00 p.m.
Golden Handle up to about 7 p.m..
Feb 9 Moon, Mars Erkerode LT25 Sony RX10 M4 Observed conjuction of moon and Mars between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. See extra page Conjunctions 2025
Feb 27 Venus MH Vespera Pro   Venus observed with Vespera Pro Wanted to test my new Bahtinov mask for the Vespera Pro.
Mar 2 Moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars MH Vespera Pro Sony RX10 M4 Observed crescent of the moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars with the naked eye and binoculars; photographed Moon, Venus, and Mercury (6:45-7 p.m.)
Vespera Pro: Observed the crescent of the moon shortly after 7 p.m.
 
Mar 3 Moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars MH     Observed crescent of the moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars with the naked eye and binoculars  
Mar 4 Moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars MH Vespera Pro   Observed the moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars with the naked eye and binoculars
Vespera Pro: Observed the moon shortly after 7 p.m.
 
Mar 5, 6, 8 Moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars MH Vespera Pro   Observed the moon, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars with the naked eye and binoculars
Vespera Pro: Observed the nearly half moon/half moon shortly after 7 p.m.
 
Mar 8 Sun   Vespera Pro   Observed sun spots, not many...  
Mar 9 Moon MH     Vespera Pro: Observed the moon with Golden Handle after 9:30 p.m. several times Golden Handle after 9:30 p.m..
Mar 16 Jupiter MH C5, Vespera Pro   C5: Observed Jupiter (3 moons left, one right; two stripes)
Vespera Pro: Observed Jupiter - fuzzy, no stripes, mostly no moons; if so, very faint...
Vespera Pro unusable for Jupiter observations
Mar 18 Sun MH Vespera Pro   Observed sun spots, some more...  

All observations done in Mühlhausen/Kraichgau (MH), except for where noted otherwise; SM/F = Sumène/France, Erk = Erkerode/Germany.

 

Special Events

January 3, 2025: Venus close to the Crescent of the Moon

 

Photos of the Crescent of the Moon with Venus; according to SkySafari they are a nearly 2° distant from each other

January 4, 2025: Venus near the Crescent of the Moon

Photos of the Crescent of the Moon with Venus; according to SkySafari they are a nearly 13° distant from each other

January 4, 2025: Saturn leaves the Crescent of the Moon after Being Covered

Saturn ring? (magnification of the previous photo)

Photos of the Crescent of the Moon with Saturn (Sony RX10 M4)

January 18: Venus and Saturn

Saturn left, Venus right

February 1, 2025: Venus near the Crescent of the Moon, Crescent of the Moon Taken with Vespera Pro


made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

February 2, 2025: Crescent of the Moon Taken with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

February 4, 2025: Nearly Halfmoon with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

February 7, 2025: More than Halfmoon with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

February 8, 2025: Moon with Golden Handle with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

February 9, 2025: Conjunction of Moon with Mars

About 8 p.m.: 22' ´distance at 8:07 p.n. = minimal distance, halo

February 27, 2025: Crescent of the Venus with Vespera Pro

Second row with Bahtinov mask

The Venus has a diameter of about von ungefähr 30 pixels, which leads to about 50" for a an image scale of 1,65"/px etwa 50". After a long Internet search I was successful! Accordning to theskylive.com/venus-info, Venus diameter is 47.3". Thus, my rough estimation is not that bad...

March 2, 2025: Crescent of the Moon with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

March 2, 2025: Crescent of the Moon with Venus and Mercury (Sony RX10 M4)

March 4, 2025: Moon with Vespera Pro, Crescent of the Venus, Mercury

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

Crescent of the Venus

Mercury

March 5, 2025: Nearly Half Moon with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

March 6, 2025: Half Moon with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

March 8, 2025: Sun Spots

    

Sun spots (section)

 

Sun spots,slightly sharpened

 

Sun spots, sharpened alternatively (stronger)

 

Comparison photo from the Internet (The Sky Live)

March 8, 2025: One Day after Half Moon with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

Click the preview to see the Alpes Valley!

March 9, 2025: Moon with Golden Handle with Vespera Pro

made brighter

made brighter and sharpened

March 18, 2025: Sun Spots

    

Sun spots (section)

 

Sun spots,slightly sharpened

 

Sun spots, sharpened alternatively (stronger)

 

Comparison photo from the Internet (The Sky Live)

 

References

Links

Books (in German)

On this Website

 

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made by walodesign on a mac!
18.03.2025