Stargazing Report Chiltern Hills 28 February 2026

Date: Saturday 28 February 2026

Stargazing Location: Pitstone Hill near Ivinghoe Beacon HP23 5RX

Time: 7pm - 9pm

Weather: Mostly clear. Temp +5c and slight breeze

STARGAZING SUMMARY

Arrived c. 6:30pm and chatted with visitors in the car park who were excited for viewing some of the planets. Set up a 250mm skywatcher dobsonian telescope for a stargazing session with Mark.

Started the session by taking in views of the constellations including Ursa Major (the Plough) and how to find the Pole Star using the seven stars that make up the pan shape of the Plough. Orion the Hunter rode high towards our south with Sirus, the brightest star in our night sky and part of the constellation of Canis Major (the great dog) sparkling away to Orion's lower left. Auriga and Gemini were both high in the sky and very visible, despite the strong moonlight. Jupiter appeared bright nestled high within the constellation of Gemini. 

In the telescope we managed an amazing view of the wispy Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery where new stars are being born. The Pleiades star cluster (seven sisters) appeared as sparkling gems in a the wide angle 34mm Explore Scientific eyepiece. The Perseus Double Cluster and Owl Cluster both drew exclamations of amazement when viewed by Mark. Bettered again by a view of the Gemini planetary nebula and Andromeda Galaxy...and of course the mighty Jupiter. 

Jupiter itself was a superb sight using the 10mm Pentax eyepiece. The view was superbly sharp with Jupiter's equatorial bands easily seen, and also some of the less obvious temperate bands and shaded polar regions. All four Galillean moons were nicely on view - Io and Ganymede to the left of Jupiter in our inverted view, and Europa and Callisto close to each other on the right side of Jupiter.

We finished the session with a view of the Moon sat next to the Beehive star cluster. A super view of the moon and the brighter stars in the beehive cluster were afforded to us with a 30mm Explore Scientific eyepiece. We used a 25mm plossl and 17mm Baader Hyperion lens to get a closer view with some awesome crater detail tonight before the clouds rolled back in.

Highlights 

• Orion Nebula
• Pleiades Star Cluster
• Andromeda Galaxy
• Jupiter and its Moons
• Our Moon

Hi Seb. Just wanted to send you a quick note of thanks for this evening. I enjoyed it immensely, and it really helped having someone so knowledgeable explaining what we were looking at. Best Mark