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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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... | ||
| Apr 1 | Moon | MH | Vespera Pro | Sony RX10 M4 | Mond covers the Pleiades (only the beginning was observable, moon already to far in the West and too low) | Vespera Pro unusable, therefore photographed with the Sony RX10 M4 until Electra was covered |
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
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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
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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
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Photos of the Crescent of the Moon with Saturn (Sony RX10 M4)
January 18: Venus and Saturn
Saturn left, Venus right |
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February 1, 2025: Venus near the Crescent of the Moon, Crescent of the Moon Taken with Vespera Pro
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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
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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)
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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
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Sun spots (section) |
Sun spots,slightly sharpened |
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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
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Sun spots (section) |
Sun spots,slightly sharpened |
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Sun spots, sharpened alternatively (stronger) |
Comparison photo from the Internet (The Sky Live) |
April 1, 2025: Moon (Crescent) covers the Pleiades
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Pleiades moving towards the moon, Electra still visible |
Ditto, Electra covered |
Later photo of the coverage, shortly before the moon was gone... |
References
Links
- Mond (Wikipedia): de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mond
- Moon (Wikipedia): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon
- Virtual Moon Atlas: ap-i.net/avl/en/start
Books (in German)
- Lambert Spix (2013, 3. Auflage). moonscout - Mondmeere, Krater und Gebirge einfach finden und beobachten. Oculum-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938469-58-3
- Lambert Spix & Frank Gasparini (2011, 1. Auflage). Der Moonhopper. Oculum-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938469-54-5
- Ronald Stoyan, Hans-Georg Purucker (2013, 1. Auflage). Reiseatlas Mond. Oculum-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938469-64-4
- Robin Scagell (2016). 101 Himmelsobjekte, die man gesehen haben muss. Kosmos Verlag (out of print).
On this Website
- TS Optics Photoline 80/480 (3.2" Refractor)
- Vaonis Vespera Pro - Information
- My Binoculars
- "Moon Walks"
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made by  on a mac! |
| 02.04.2025 |  |