A Magical Winter Observing Night – December 26, 2025

After weeks of cloudy skies, the weather finally cleared up in Belgium on December 24. Christmas celebrations kept me indoors, but by the night of December 26, I was ready for a proper observing session. It turned out to be a cold but rewarding night under the stars.

My observing setup under the crisp winter sky.

Weather Conditions

The night started chilly and only got colder as time passed. The temperature dropped from -0.8°C to -6.0°C, as shown in the graph below. Humidity steadily increased from 65.5% to 80.7%.

Humidity rose throughout the night, peaking around 80%.

Temperature dropped sharply, reaching -6°C by midnight.

Observing the Moon

I began the session with a beautiful view of the Moon, together with Lotte. The lunar surface revealed countless details—craters and maria stood out sharply in the cold, stable air. After Lotte went to bed, I moved on to testing my new Nexus eFinder.

Testing the Nexus eFinder

I recently upgraded from a classic eFinder to the Nexus eFinder, and the results were impressive. After pointing to Polaris and calculating the offset, I performed a two-star alignment. I mimicked the upcoming Goto++ feature by doing local syncs and repeat gotos, and it worked flawlessly. Once Goto++ is officially available, this process will be even smoother.  This worked so good that even at 200x magnification, objects landed perfectly in the center of the field of view.

Deep Sky Highlights

With the alignment complete, I explored a variety of objects:

• Jupiter – Always a favorite, though not spectacular this time.
• M42 (Orion Nebula) – Stunning detail, even better than expected.
• M35, M1, M103 – Beautiful clusters and nebulae.

Using the filter mode of the Nexus DSC Pro, I focused on planetary nebulae and observed:

• M76, NGC 2022, NGC 40, NGC 1501, NGC 1514, NGC 2242 (faint), NGC 2346, NGC 2371, NGC 2392
  Each one had its own unique charm, even under less-than-ideal conditions. The SQM reading was 19.99 after the Moon set, but Christmas lights kept the sky brightness higher than usual.

Wide-Field Views

I also enjoyed the night sky with Analog Sky Magic binoculars.

• M45 (Pleiades) and the Hyades were breathtaking in the wide field of view.
• M42 appeared larger than expected in the 50mm binoculars, and filters helped reveal more nebulosity.
• Jupiter, however, was unimpressive in binoculars.

All-Sky Camera

I attempted to capture the night with my All-Sky camera, but unfortunately, no results came through. I’ll need to troubleshoot that later.

Final Thoughts

Around 00:15, I wrapped up a satisfying session. Despite the cold and light pollution, the combination of the Moon, deep-sky objects, and the new Nexus eFinder made this night truly memorable.