Astrophotography

Whether you’re an astrophotography expert or beginner, our guides and galleries will inspire and help you get the most out of imaging the night sky.

A view of Jupiter and its moon Europa captured on 25 August 2020 by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M. H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL team.

Gallery Jupiter

M35 and NGC 2158 by Jaspal Chadha, London, UK. Equipment: Skywatcher Espirt 100ED, QSI 690 CCD, Ioptron CEM60 Mount, LRGB.

Gallery Messier 35 and NGC 2158

M39 by William McSorley, Leeds, UK. Equipment: SW 150P Reflector, EQ5 GoTo Mount, QHY8L cooled CCD, SW ST80, Philips SPC900 webcam.

Gallery Messier 39

M37 Open Cluster by Ron Brecher, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Equipment: SBIG STL-11000M, Baader RGB filters, 10

Gallery Messier 37

M106 Spiral Galaxy by Mark Griffith, Swindon, Wiltshire, UK. Equipment: Teleskop service 12

Gallery Messier 106

M34 by Jaspal Chadha, London, UK. Equipment: TAK 130, iOptron CEM60 Mount, QSI 690 CCD

Gallery Messier 34

NGC 2403 by Dan Crowson, Animas, New Mexico, USA. Equipment: SBIG STF-8300M, Astro-Tech AT12RCT

Gallery Caldwell 7

IC1318 Butterfly in Cygnus by Sheila Whysall, Derbyshire, UK. Equipment: Takahashi 106 FSQ reduced, QSI 690 wsg-8, Astrodon 3nm narrowband filters

Gallery IC 1318, Gamma Cygni Nebula

Total Eclipse-Corona by Pauline Phillips, Shoshone, Wyoming, USA. Equipment: Canon 6d, Tamron 28-300 lens, tripod

Gallery Solar eclipses

NGC457 - The ET Cluster in Cassiopeia by Bill McSorley, Leeds, UK. Equipment: SW 150P Newtonian, EQ5 GoTo Mount, QHY8L cooled ccd.

Gallery Owl Cluster

Comet 45P Sails in the Dark by José J. Chambó, Mayhill, New Mexico. Equipment: Takahashi FSQ-106ED 530mm f/5, SBIG STL-11000M

Gallery Short-period comets

Globular cluster Omega Centauri is thought to contain about ten million stars. These ancient objects may not be as old as once thought. Credit: ESO

Gallery Omega Centauri globular cluster

The Heart and Soul Nebulae, Keith Bramley, Lancashire, 14-22 February 2019. Equipment: Atik 383L+ mono camera, Samyang 135mm f/2 telephoto lens, Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro mount.

Gallery Heart and Soul Nebulae

Snow Moon and Ryanair 737-800 by Mark Pelleymounter, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK. Equipment: Canon 7D, Tamron 150-600mm.

Astrophotography

Gallery Planes in front of the Sun and Moon

Space Shuttle Discovery can be seen docked to the ISS (on the left) in this stereo image from 2011. Image Credit: Thierry Legault

How to take a photo of the International Space Station