In a rare first for me, I actually used autofocus for this entire astrophotography shoot. If I'm being honest? I prefer it when shooting astro with a mirrorless camera. Why? Because it is quicker and that means more time capturing the stars and less time setting up. I can get a star in sharp focus using autofocus in half the time that it would take me to do it manually and it's way easier to focus with the shutter or back button than play about with the focus ring, especially with cold fingers.

I only managed to get out under one clear sky to test the new R6 III but it was a wonderful session at my usual dark hill spot surrounded by a sea of stars and celestial shapes. After setting up my tripod, I was ready to start shooting, armed with the Canon 14mm f/1.4 and 45mm f/1.2 lenses.

If you are a seasoned astrophotographer, you will undoubtedly have started your craft by learning how to manually focus on stars to get them crisp and sharp in the frame. Everyone does. Whilst the manual focus (MF) versus autofocus (AF) debate continues within the community, the technology for low-light autofocusing capability has come a long way since mirrorless cameras were first introduced and the R6 III is physical proof of that.

The astrophotography

You only get the luxury of being able to do this if your camera is actually good at autofocusing in low light and for starry nightscapes. All three versions of the Canon EOS R6 feature a low-light autofocus range of -6.5 exposure value (EV), so they already have a strong baseline for shooting under dark skies. The Canon EOS R6 III features a higher resolution and advanced autofocus algorithms, so the AF system actually has more data to use and is better at using it.

I was able to capture bright objects easily and start shooting without having to spend ages using manual focus for each new shot. The autofocus was powerful enough to capture at least one star in each of my frames. I simply used autofocus on the brighter points of light in my composition, waited for the green box and then switched to manual to avoid any refocusing if I decided to recompose the shot.

Bright objects were the easiest to capture, with Jupiter, Pollux and Castor easily captured in the western sky. Light pollution washed out the contrast in this shot but it was the quickest autofocus because of the brightness of the objects.

The autofocus helped me capture a range of other constellations too. With the R6 III focusing on the bright star Arcturus, along with the rest of Boötes and Coma Berenices next to the Coma Star Cluster (Melotte 111).

The shape of Leo is recognisable and the autofocus captured the brightest star, Regulus, to bring the rest of the stars in the constellation into focus. You can even spot the Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer, to the right of the frame and it is fairly sharp in focus. Barring some minor star trailing from my lack of a star tracker, the stars are nicely in focus, including on minor objects like star clusters.

Using the 45mm lens, I got some close-ups of some quadrilateral shapes in the sky. Hercules' prominent trapezoidal keystone is visible and one of the corners, Zeta Herculis, was picked up by the autofocus. It is not exactly a bright star, with a magnitude of 2.88, but the R6 III picked it up easily and brought the rest of the corners into focus. Whilst barely a smudge along one of the sides of Hercules, I even managed to capture the Hercules globular cluster (M13) with the R6 III and the Canon RF 45mm wide open at f/1.2.

The polygonal head of the dragon in Draco was easily captured in the centre of the frame, with bright stars Eltanin (2.23), Rastaban (2.79) and even Iota Herculis (3.8) showing prominently. The autofocus capabilities of the EOS R6 III are maximised when used alongside a lens with a very fast aperture like f/1.4 and f/1.2. Without these types of lenses, you would be much less likely to be able to autofocus on such dim stars.

The upgrades

The big question when looking at the third iteration of a camera model is to figure out if the upgrades are actually worth it. First, you have to think about your budget and also what you are using the camera for. For astrophotography, there are a few upgrades in the EOS R6 III that can be considered to see whether they are worth it.

The most noticeable upgrade on the R6 III is the resolution, which has been upgraded from the R6 II's 24.2MP sensor to a 32.5 MP sensor. On top of improved resolution for general and astrophotography, the boosted number of pixels allows the Dual Pixel CMOS AF II to collect even more data points because there are more pixels. Dual Pixel architecture splits each pixel into two separate photodiodes and allows each photodiode to read the light from the star at two different positions and allows the lens motor to bring those points together into perfect focus.

The upgraded sensor resolution combined with upgraded tracking algorithms from the flagship Canon EOS R5 II make the R6 III better at locking onto low-light points and make autofocus for astrophotography much more reliable than in previous models.

I initially expected the higher resolution to translate into more image noise on photographs but this was not the case. The R6 III utilizes dual-gate gain architecture, which means that every pixel has a switchable path at the hardware level depending on the ISO level used and allows images with higher ISOs to have a heavily reduced base amount of noise and thus makes them less grainy.

Photos at lower ISOs on the R6 III have an incredibly high dynamic range (HDR) thanks to the low conversion gate (LCG) circuit. This allows the natural color of the stars to be preserved instead of coming across as indeterminate white blobs, as well as the subtle hues of the dark surrounding sky in the photograph.

Aside from the technical aspects of how the resolution improves the autofocus, the detail in images from the R6 III is noticeable and is great for picking up finer stellar structures such as star clusters and smaller stars. When paired with a distorted lens like the Canon RF 7-14mm f/2.8-3.5 fisheye lens, extra resolution really helps details pop. I didn't get to use the fisheye lens for astro but general daytime shooting delivered some high-quality photographs.

The final important upgrade on the R6 III is the inclusion of a CFexpress card slot, which allows faster writing and reading speeds both in camera and during media downloads. A UHS-II SD card has an average read speed of 300MB/s and an average write speed of 260MB/s.

This may seem fast but the most advanced CFexpress cards have a read and write speed of over 3000MB/s, which makes huge workloads so much easier to process. This may only be of benefit to professional photographers who shoot a lot of video or need to do a huge amount of burst photography in RAW format, but it does vastly improve the performance of this camera. Bear in mind that CFexpress cards are much more expensive than SD cards and require an additional CFexpress reader to transfer data to a computer.

Is it worth it?

The price difference between the R6 Mark II and the Mark III is just under $1000 and for that amount of money, justifying the move up to the latest model comes down to a few factors that you will have to consider. The power of the low-light autofocus is tempting but you should think about the camera as a whole to see whether it is worth making the investment.

If you are looking to boost resolution in your night-time scenes and have been shooting astrophotography for a long time, the R6 III could be worth the extra investment thanks to the 32.5MP sensor, which retains the powerful dual-gain architecture for getting high dynamic range images at lower ISOs and delivering high ISO images with significantly less grain.

If you have a heavy workflow, you are likely to be frustrated with the lack of a CFexpress card slot on the earlier R6 models and would benefit from the advanced functionality the new slot will give you, especially if you shoot a lot of RAW imagery and video.

Stick with an earlier model or a different mirrorless camera if you are a very casual astrophotographer who does most of your shooting in the daytime. I just can't justify the massive jump in price for basic shooting, where a beginner or intermediate photographer's money might be better spent on getting a fast f/1.4 lens for superior astro. I used the Canon RF 14mm f/1.4 lens for astrophotography testing and I don't think the images would have looked half as good if I had used a lens with a smaller aperture. If you already own the R6 II, the only reason you might upgrade is if you need to do more heavy cropping into your images or need better hybrid video functionality from a camera.

Astrophotographer Efrain Morales captured spectacular footage of China's Tiangong space station as its silhouette buzzed Tycho Crater during a lunar transit on May 29, one night before May's Blue Moon.

Morales recorded the outlines of Tiangong's vast solar panels and habitable modules using a 12-inch telescope and astronomy camera as it passed silently across the lunar surface in the skies above Puerto Rico at 11:33 p.m. EDT on May 29 (0333 GMT on May 30).

"It is a challenge in less then a second to capture this event," Morales said in an email to Space.com. "Using a program the ISS Transit Finder helps in giving information to capture the space station. Adjusting the FOV and at times calculating last minute deviations in time and positions in which makes it more challenging."

The orbital outpost appeared to dive directly toward Tycho Crater, whose 53-mile-wide (85 kilometer) impact site and bright ejecta dominate the southern region of the lunar disk on the nights surrounding the full moon phase.

The dark expanses of Mare Nubium (the Sea of Clouds) and Mare Nectaris (the Sea of Nectar) can also be seen scarring the lunar disk to the left and upper right of the footage, respectively, where ancient lava flows hardened to form basaltic plains billions of years ago.

What is the Tiangong space station?

The Tiangong space station, which translates to "Heavenly Palace" from Mandarin, is made up of the core module Tianhe and theMengtian and Wentian laboratory modules, which orbit Earth at an altitude ranging between 217 and 280 miles (340 to 450 km).

Tiangong is currently crewed by the three taikonauts of the Shenzhou 23 mission — commander Zhu Yangzhu, pilot Zhang Zhiyuan and payload specialist Lai Ka-ying — who launched to the orbital station atop a 203-ft (62 m) Long March 2F rocket on May 24.

Want to see the Tiangong space station for yourself? Then be sure to read our guide to tracking and photographing the orbital outpost, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your night sky photography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Amateur astrophotographer Noah Gyles has shared a stunningly detailed view of the Lagoon Nebula, captured as it glowed 5,200 light-years from Earth in the skies above Rockwell, Texas.

Gyles' colorful image reveals intricate detail in the vast interstellar cloud of dust and hydrogen gas, which has been ionized by the intense ultraviolet radiation from the population of hot, young stars embedded within the nebula, causing it to glow with its own light.

"I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so I often drive about an hour outside the city to escape the light pollution," Gyles told Space.com in an email. "Since I wait for nights that are both moonless and cloudless, I don't get nearly as many chances to image as I'd like, but It never gets old seeing a camera reveal nebulae and galaxies in parts of the sky that look completely empty to the naked eye."

Gyles captured 60x5-minute exposures of the Lagoon Nebula on the nights of July 18 and 19 2025 using an Askar FRA500 telescope and ZWO astronomy camera, in conjunction with a set of narrowband astronomy filters. "This was one of the first targets I chose after upgrading my equipment," explained Gyles. "I had imaged it before, but I wanted to revisit it using narrowband filters, which isolate specific wavelengths of light emitted by nebulae."

Over six hours of light data was then carefully combined and edited to reveal the incredible complexity of the vast star-forming region. "The first five-minute exposure already showed more detail than I was expecting," said Gyles. "After stacking all 60 frames, I was amazed by the amount of structure and faint detail in the nebula."

The Lagoon Nebula is best viewed in the months surrounding August and is one of the few star-forming regions bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, appearing as a faint blur of light that becomes more prominent through a pair of binoculars or a small telescope, according to NASA.

One way to find the Lagoon Nebula is to identify the distinctive "Teapot" asterism in the constellation Sagittarius, which glistens low on the southern horizon to the left of the Milky Way around midnight in late spring and early summer.

Find the three stars that make up the pouring spout of the teapot and draw an imaginary line extending from the lower star, Kaus Australis, up through the middle of the two upper stars, Alnasl and Kaus Media. Follow the line out into open space for roughly the length of the Teapot's spout to find the soft glow of the Lagoon Nebula.

Alternatively, locate the bright star Ascella, which forms part of the Teapot's base in Sagittarius, and the binary star system Sabik, which can be found on the opposite side of the Milky Way to the upper left of the red supergiant Antares. The Lagoon Nebula sits roughly halfway between them and is best viewed in the months surrounding August, so get out and take a look for yourself!

Want to capture your own mesmerizing views of the night sky? Then be sure to check out our picks of the best lenses and cameras for astrophotography, along with our roundups of the top telescopes for exploring the midnight realm.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your own deep space astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Soumyadeep Mukherjee has shared a spectacular 30-day collage of the western night sky titled "Closer, Everyday", which captures the subtle motion of Jupiter and Venus as they danced through the skies above Kolkata, India, ahead of a dramatic planetary conjunction.

The photos used to create the collage were taken with a Nikon Z6II camera paired with a Sigma 50 mm lens in the hours following sunset from May 11 through to June 9, as Jupiter and Venus shone close to one another in the constellation Gemini.

"On most of the days, the images were captured during civil twilight in order to showcase the varying colours of the twilight sky along with the planets," Mukherjee told Space.com in an email. "However, on some occasions, due to the presence of clouds, images were captured during nautical and astronomical twilight."

Mukherjee remained consistent with his technique throughout, varying only the shutter speed to account for changing light conditions, creating a gorgeous glimpse of the planetary procession. "During capturing the images, the camera was kept level to the horizon, and the planets were placed right at the middle of the frame, as much as possible," explained Mukherjee. "The images were captured with the same camera, the same lens, at the same focal length."

Each successive shot tracked the relentless movement of Jupiter and Venus as they circled the sun, while appearing to draw closer to one another in Earth's sky. The slow dance came to a climax on June 9 — which is depicted in the far right panel — when skywatchers worldwide were treated to a dramatic planetary conjunction as Jupiter and Venus shone less than 2 degrees away from one another above the western horizon.

In reality, the close pass of Jupiter and Venus was nothing more than a misleading matter of perspective. Venus has actually been growing more distant from Jupiter throughout the 30-day photoshoot, during which time it added another 27 million miles (43 million kilometers) between itself and the gas giant as it raced toward Earth.

Want to create your own incredible photos of the night sky? Then be sure to read our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our beginner's guide to photographing the post-sunset realm.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Jupiter and Venus put on a spectacular performance as they met in the twilight sky on June 9 during a close planetary conjunction as Mercury lurked nearby — and we've got the photos to prove it!

The planetary trio have been locked in a mesmerizing slow dance in the western sunset sky over the past few weeks, forming a spectacular line-up before breaking ranks in dramatic fashion, as Venus beat a slow but inexorable path towards Jupiter.

The cosmic dance came to a climax on June 9, as Jupiter and Venus reached conjunction while shining less than 2 degrees from one another amongst the stars of the constellation Gemini.

Read on to see spectacular images of the close planetary approach, as captured by the global astrophotography community.

June 2026 Venus-Jupiter conjunction in photos

Astrophotographer Josh Dury snapped a gorgeous view of Venus and Jupiter meeting in the skies above the prehistoric Avebury stone circles in Wiltshire, U.K., on June 8, as the bright stars Castor and Pollux glowed off to their right.

"These two stones almost appear to mirror the angle of the planets," Dury noted in an email to Space.com. "Almost like a couple gazing up to the wonders of the universe."

Our next view was captured by Cheng Xin as the planetary duo shone brightly in the skies over the city of Shenzhen in the Guangdong Province of China — close enough to fit comfortably in the field of view of a pair of 10x50 binoculars.

Photographer Riste Spiroski took this image of the planets shining above the rooftops of Skopje, the capital city of the Republic of North Macedonia. Tiny dots extending from Jupiter's disk hint at the presence of its four Galilean moons.

"While Venus and Jupiter are separated by hundreds of millions of kilometres in space, tonight they appeared close together from our perspective on Earth, creating one of the year's most beautiful celestial sights," Spirosky told Space.com in an email. "I was particularly drawn to the contrast between the couple focused on their phone and the rare astronomical event above them, this contrast inspired the story behind this series."

Yasser Al-Zayyat took this photo of Jupiter and Venus sitting above the Kuwait City skyline on June 9, as skyscrapers cast artificial light into the twilight realm at the climax of the planetary conjunction.

Our final image comes courtesy of Osama Fathi, who captured the distant worlds shining over the volcanic mountains of Egypt's Black Desert on June 6, as Venus drew closer to Jupiter in the twilight sky using a Nikon Z6 camera paired with aNikon Nikkor 24 mm lens.

"The terrestrial foreground was captured during the twilight 'blue hour,' while the star-studded sky was built by stacking multiple short exposures to reveal the faint background stars without blowing out the bright planets," Fathi told Space.com in an email.

Want to capture gorgeous images of the post-sunset realm for yourself? Then be sure to read our beginner's guide to photographing the night sky, along with our roundups of the best lenses and cameras for astrophotography available in 2026.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer ing. Cornelis Van Zuilen has shared a staggeringly detailed image of the galaxies known as the "Leo Triplet", after spending 60 hours capturing the light of the cosmic heavyweights from his balcony in the Netherlands.

The Leo Triplet is made up of the spiral galaxies M65, M66 and NGC 3628, which are located about 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo. The group lies close to the bright star Chertan, which forms part of the hind leg of the great lion represented in the stellar formation, according to NASA.

"At the end of 2024, I bought my Askar 103APO telescope, giving me enough focal length to seriously focus on galaxies and begin my long-term project of photographing the entire Messier Catalogue," Van Zuilen told Space.com in an email. "After finishing my first image of the Leo Triplet in 2025, I really wanted to see the gigantic tidal tail of NGC 3628 and decided to return with a much more ambitious goal."

For 2026, Van Zuilen aimed to create a detailed composite shot of the galactic trio created from at least 60 hours of light data. "Beginning on April 6, I photographed the Leo Triplet over 18 clear nights, collecting 85 hours of data, of which exactly 60 hours and 3 minutes met my quality standards," continued Van Zuilen.

Having met his target, Van Zuilen set to work combining and editing the data using the astronomy software PixInsight. The end result was a striking galactic portrait that revealed the intricate spiral structures of M65 and M66, along with the edge-on profile of NGC 3628, which is also colloquially known as the "Hamburger Galaxy" by dint of its distinctive dust lane.

Van Zuilen's image also reveals a 300,000-light-year-long "tidal tail" of stars and galactic material stretching away from NGC 3628. This structure is thought to have formed during a gravitational interaction with a galactic neighbor, according to the National Science Foundation's Noir Lab.

"Using a PixInsight galaxy identification script, no fewer than 548 catalogued galaxies were identified within the image, highlighting the incredible depth achieved through 60 hours of integration time from my balcony here in Heiloo, a village in the Netherlands," concluded Van Zuilen. "I hope you like this final image as much as I do!"

You may also like: Expert advice for new stargazers: How to begin your amateur astronomy journey.

Interested in capturing your own images of the night sky? Then be sure to read our beginner's guide to photographing the Milky Way, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

May's full Blue Moon put on a dazzling display over the weekend, flooding the night sky with moonlight as the red supergiant star Antares glowed nearby.

A Blue Moon is the name given to the second full moon in a single calendar month — a rare occurrence that only takes place about once every 2.5 years, because the moon's 29.5-day cycle doesn't neatly align with the calendar. It's also the name given to the third full moon in a single season containing four full moons — though this original meaning doesn't apply for the May 31 lunar event.

The May 2026 Blue Moon was also the smallest full moon of the year — known as a micromoon — having turned full at a distant point in its elliptical orbit of Earth. As a result, it appeared subtly smaller in Earth's sky as it tracked across the sky, but still shone bright enough to throw a veil of moonlight over all but the brightest nearby stars.

Read on to see a selection of gorgeous photos of the May 2026 Blue Moon.

May 2026 Full Blue Moon in photos

Our first shot was captured by photographer Gary Hershorn, who snapped an atmospheric shot of the near-full moon as it took flight between the steel legs of the Eiffel Tower, while soccer fans celebrated the victory of Paris Saint-Germain over Arsenal in the Champions League Final on May 30.

Lokman Vural captured a gorgeous shot of the lunar disk shining behind the Statue of Liberty around moonrise in New York that same night, as a helicopter appeared to buzz Earth's natural satellite.

Castas Baltas caught an atmospheric view of the Blue Moon on the night of May 31, as it rose over the ancient Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, close to the city of Athens in Greece.

This magnificent view of the moon rising over San Francisco was taken by Tayfun Coskun from the nearby city of Sausalito in California, as moonlight reflected in the waters of the San Francisco Bay.

Coskun lined up another spectacular shot of the moon rising above the Bay Bridge that same night, as the infamous, and now defunct island prison of Alcatraz loomed out of the shadowy waters.

Steve Christo-Corbis, meanwhile, snapped a beautiful evening shot of the yellow full moon one night later on May 31, as it glowed in the peach sky above the Sydney Opera House in Australia's largest city.

Photographer Pongmanat Tasiri opted to capture the Blue Moon as it shone silver in the cloudy skies above the city of Chiang Mai in Thailand. Dark lunar maria are visible sprawling across the moon's surface, where lava once rose to the surface before hardening to form enormous basaltic plains.

Juliane Sonntag spied those same lunar maria darkening the moon's surface as it glowed behind an American flag atop the Brooklyn Bridge in New York on May 31, as the artificial glow of tail lights gleamed below.

The final image was taken by Robert Nemeti, revealing the glow of the full moon shining out from behind a dense band of cloud to illuminate the metallic skeleton of a communication tower in Kechnec, Slovakia.

The next full moon will occur on June 29, when the full "Strawberry Moon" rises as the first full moon of summer for the Northern Hemisphere! Eager to get a closer look at the lunar disk as the line separating night from day sweeps across its ancient surface in the coming weeks? Then be sure to read our roundups of the best telescopes and binoculars for exploring the night sky, along with our guide to observing the moon!

If photography is your thing, then check out our guide to imaging the moon with a camera, along with our picks of the top lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Greg Meyer has shared a breathtaking new view of the iconic Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) rearing its head 1,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion.

Meyer's image reveals the dark equine silhouette of opaque dust for which the nebula is named, backlit by glowing hydrogen gas energized by the ultraviolet radiation of nearby stars.

The intricate structure of the nebula has been examined by some of the most powerful observatories ever created — including the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope — revealing the secrets of the star-forming region while also highlighting its beauty. In some images — such as those captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope — the iconic horsehead-shape disappears entirely, transforming the familiar nebula into something alien, and new.

The bright light of Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion's Belt, illuminates the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) to the left of the Horsehead, while Alnilam — the middle star in the hunter's belt — glows blue-white in the upper left.

Meyer imaged the Horsehead Nebula over several nights running through November 2025 to March 2026 using a Radian Raptor 61 mm telescope paired with an astronomy camera and accessories as Orion shone in the sky over Phoenix, Arizona.

Meyer then stacked over 115 hours of image data to create the final result. He opted for a blend of established color palettes before manually adjusting the hues using the astrophotography software PixInsight, along with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.

"I really started going down a rabbit hole," Meyer told Space.com in an email."I like this color combo with some complementary colors, something different".

Want to capture gorgeous photos of the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our beginner's guide to imaging the Milky Way, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The crescent moon and Venus put on a spectacular show for skywatchers worldwide during a dramatic close approach in the evening sky earlier this week. Read on to see a selection of gorgeous photos of the cosmic rendezvous, captured from around the world.

Photographers captured the razor-thin lunar crescent just a few days after the new moon phase on May 16, as sunlight reflected from Earth's surface and atmosphere bathed the shadowed expanse of the moon's disk in a soft glow, known as earthshine..

Venus, meanwhile, appeared as a dazzling star-like object that accompanied the moon through the late spring sky, setting the stage for a gorgeous photoshoot as the duo lit the night above cityscapes and historic landmarks.

Stunning photos of the May's lunar conjunction of Venus and the moon

Meng Zhongde spied Venus and the moon shining in the twilight sky over the Hainan Province of China on May 19, with earthshine illuminating the lunar disk as reflected sunlight poured into the night from its glowing crescent.

Photographer Gary Hershorn captured a dazzling photo of Venus shining to the left of the crescent moon above the One World Trade Center on May 18, as the glow of dusk illuminated the New York City skyline.

Hershorn also snapped a well-timed shot of a passenger aircraft speeding through the skies above Manhattan alongside the celestial duo that same night, before the 7%-lit crescent moon slipped from view below the western horizon.

Giuseppe Pappa took a mathematical approach to the celestial event, by photographing the moon, Venus and the gas giant Jupiter in the skies over Catania, Italy on May 19 before calculating the angles between them.

"The three celestial bodies aligned perfectly in the evening sky, forming a geometric isosceles triangle," Pappa told Space.com in an email. "Jupiter (top left) and Venus (bottom right) sit at the base of the triangle with an identical angle of 10°. The Moon rests at the vertex(V), in the center of the scene, creating a wide 160° angle."

Photographer Paolo Palma caught Venus peeking through the columns in the dome of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome. during the conjunction. "Venus is captured through the slender windows of the dome's lantern, almost as if it were the flame itself," Palma told Space.com in an email.

"When the sky was almost completely dark, I noticed a small slit in the dome's lantern that seemed relatively aligned with the path the planet would take in the coming minutes," Palma said. "And so, once I had confirmed that the planet was indeed visible through that small opening, after a few attempts, I managed to capture it, even though it remained visible for only a few seconds."

"Every evening, the night sky reveals itself as a book full of surprises," Palma added.

This view of the moon and Venus — often called "Earth's twin" due to its similar size and rocky composition — was taken by Pradeep Dambarage as they hung over the silhouetted treetops of a forest in Linköping, Sweden. The photo reveals subtle imperfections in the arc of the moon's crescent, created as sunlight fell on craters and broken terrain lining the shadowy divide separating night from day on the lunar surface.

Photographer Bill Ingalls spied that same scene unfolding above the Mary W. Jackson building at NASA's headquarters in Washington D.C., as the agency's iconic blue, red and white "Meatball" logo dominates the shot.

Tahir Turan Eroglu captured another gorgeous view of the young moon and Venus, as earthshine reveals the dark silhouettes of lunar seas scarring the lunar surface, where lava flows had solidified billions of years ago to form sweeping basaltic plains.

Want to know more about Venus? Then be sure to read our explainer article detailing everything you need to know about the rocky planet, along with these 10 fascinating facts about the moon.

If you're looking for a closer look at the planets then you'd do well to read our roundups of the top telescopes available in 2026. If photography is your thing then why not also peruse our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography?

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

I live under heavily light-polluted suburban skies in Nottingham, U.K., where the glow of streetlights often drowns out all but the brightest of stars. My backyard — boxed in by rows of terraced houses — offers only a small window of visible sky, and on most nights I'm lucky if I can spot the Pleiades with the naked eye.

Astrophotography always felt out of reach. So when I set up the Vaonis Vespera Pro telescope for the first time, I wasn't expecting much.

What happened next genuinely surprised me.

While Vaonis loaned me the Vaonis Vespera Pro telescope for testing, I wasn't expecting to be nearly this impressed by what it could do under my suburban skies. All opinions in this article are my own.

Not long after setting up the Vaonis Vespera Pro, I watched on my phone as the telescope began to capture light. Within minutes, I could make out the delicate wisps of the Veil Nebula appear in the Vaonis Singularity app. Then came the color — vibrant ribbons of red slowly painting the cosmos across my screen.

There it was, the Veil Nebula, around 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. Yet watching it gradually reveal itself in the palm of my hand made it feel closer than ever.

It wasn't long before the typical English weather rolled in and clouds swallowed the sky. But thanks to the telescope's multi-night exposure mode, I could simply pause my observations and continue them another evening. That quickly became one of my favorite features. It meant I could build up hours of exposure time over multiple nights without needing a single perfectly clear evening — something that can feel almost impossible in the U.K. at times!

It also worked perfectly with my limited view of the sky. My backyard, boxed in by terraced houses and neighboring trees, offers only a narrow viewing window before targets disappear behind rooftops due to Earth's rotation.

Oddly enough, those limitations turned out to be helpful.

As a first-time smart telescope user, I was initially overwhelmed by the sheer number of objects available in the Vaonis' Singularity app — galaxies, nebulas and star clusters all just a tap away. But with Cygnus sitting high overhead for weeks, I naturally focused my attention there before eventually moving on to Orion, the Pleiades and whatever else I could squeeze into my tiny patch of sky.

What surprised me most was the level of detail I was able to capture with just an hour or two of exposure time with the Vespera Pro. The images below were automatically stacked by the telescope, with final edits made afterward in Adobe Lightroom.

Nebulas

I quickly became obsessed with imaging nebulas. Watching delicate structures and vivid colors slowly emerge in front of my eyes felt like completing a cosmic paint-by-numbers kit.

For targets like the North America Nebula, I used a dual-band filter to better highlight hydrogen emissions, increasing the contrast of the nebula against my light-polluted suburban sky.

Veil Nebula

With Cygnus perfectly placed in the evening sky through December, I turned my attention to the Veil Nebula, the remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago. The entire nebula stretches roughly 110 light-years across and spans an area of sky around six times wider than the full moon.

I focused on two particularly striking sections: the Western Veil, home to NGC 6960, also known as the Witch's Broom, and the brightest region of the Eastern Veil, NGC 6992. Total exposure times were 53 minutes and 63 minutes, respectively.

North America Nebula

This image of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) consists of 4.25 hours of exposure time, captured over several nights, using the dual-band filter.

Located around 1,800 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, the emission nebula spans an area of the sky more than three times the apparent size of the full moon, according to NASA.

Galaxies

Naturally, I wanted to see how the Vespera Pro handles galaxies too. I settled on the Andromeda Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy, both of which were well placed high above my backyard for several hours at a time.

Andromeda Galaxy

First up was our nearest major galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, located around 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda.

Despite its enormous distance, the galaxy appears so large in our sky that it spans roughly six times the apparent width of the full moon. Under dark skies, it can even be spotted with the naked eye as a faint smudge of light.

I captured this image with just a 20-minute exposure — something that genuinely surprised me given the level of detail visible in the galaxy's dusty spiral structure.

Triangulum Galaxy

Next came the Triangulum Galaxy, M33, a spiral galaxy about 3 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Triangulum.

The galaxy is a major hub for star formation, producing new stars at a rate around 10 times greater than the average seen in the Andromeda galaxy, according to NASA.

I captured this image over several nights in December 2025, building up a total exposure time of around 3 hours.

Star clusters

Star clusters quickly became some of my favorite targets, especially on nights when I didn't have hours available for long exposures. Even relatively short imaging sessions were enough to reveal impressive details.

Hercules cluster

In fact, the Hercules Cluster, M13, was one of the first targets I deliberately used to test what the telescope could really do under my light-polluted skies. The 12-minute exposure did not disappoint.

The Hercules Cluster lies about 25,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules. It is made up of about 100,000 tightly packed stars.

Double cluster in Perseus

Next up was Double Cluster in Perseus, also known as Caldwell 14. Visible to the naked eye under dark skies, the pair of open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884 lies about 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Perseus. The image was built from a relatively modest 20-minute exposure.

Pleiades

My final star cluster target was one of my longtime favorites, the Pleiades, M45.

Also known as the Seven Sisters, the bright open cluster lies about 445 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. It has always been one of my favorite naked-eye objects as it's bright enough to punch through light pollution on many nights, but faint enough that spotting it feels rewarding.

I captured this image over a couple of nights in March 2026, building up a total exposure time of 2.7 hours.

The moon

Undoubtedly, one of the easiest and most rewarding targets to turn the Vespera Pro toward was our familiar lunar neighbor.

I especially enjoyed observing it throughout different phases of the lunar cycle, comparing what I could see with my own eyes against the incredibly detailed view appearing on my phone screen. Craters, shadows and rugged lunar terrain that were barely visible to the naked eye suddenly came alive in remarkable detail.

The dedicated Moon Mode within Vaonis' Singularity app delivers a live, non-stacked view of the lunar surface, refreshing every few seconds for a near real-time observing experience.

The sun

A relatively rare sight in the U.K. at times, the sun turned out to be one of my favorite targets to observe using the Vespera Pro with its dedicated solar filter and solar viewing mode.

Much like the telescope's Moon Mode, the Sun Mode provides a live view that refreshes every few seconds, making it easy to watch the shifting surface of our nearest star in near real time.

I captured this image on Aug. 29, 2025, when the sun was particularly active, with several large sunspot regions clearly visible across the solar disk.

Final thoughts

For context, my backyard sky falls somewhere between 7 and 8 on the Bortle scale, a nine-level system used by astronomers to classify the brightness of the night sky and the impact of light pollution. Under truly dark rural skies, thousands of stars are visible to the naked eye. From my suburban backyard in Nottingham, websites like Light Pollution Map estimate I can typically see only around 200-500 stars on a clear night.

Heavy light pollution washed out faint deep-sky objects like galaxies and nebulas, reducing contrast and making astrophotography far more challenging.

That's why the results from the Vaonis Vespera Pro telescope surprised me so much.

What impressed me most wasn't just the level of detail the telescope could capture, but how it changed the way I looked at my night sky. For years, I'd assumed heavy light pollution and a tiny suburban backyard meant deep-sky astrophotography was out of reach.

But night after night, this little smart telescope proved otherwise, revealing galaxies, nebulas and star clusters I never thought I'd be able to capture from home.

Editor's note: Vaonis loaned the Vaonis Vespera Pro telescope to the author for testing purposes. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's own.

If you're interested in getting a telescope to explore the night sky where you live, our best smart telescopes and best telescopes for beginners guides can help.

Astrophotographer Ronald Brecher has captured a breathtaking view of Markarian's Chain — a string of majestic galaxies glowing in the patch of sky between the constellations Leo and Virgo.

Brecher's photo of Markarian's Chain showcases the variety of cosmic heavyweights that populate the cosmos, while accounting for only a small section of the colossal Virgo Galaxy Cluster, which is thought to host approximately 2,000 galaxies. The galactic group is named after the astronomer Benjamin E. Markarian, who discovered that the galaxies moved coherently through space, according to the astronomy website Messier Objects.

"Note the striking colour and detail in NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, which make a close pair of galaxies known as 'The Eyes', just below centre in this image", noted Brecher in a post on his website.

Great rivers of dust, gas and stars can be seen flowing around the galactic neighbors — which also go by the moniker of "Markarian's Eyes" — where their gravitational influences have disrupted one another's spiral structures.

To the right of Markarian's Eyes are the two bright elliptical galaxies M86 and M84, which were discovered by famed astronomer Charles Messier in 1781, according to NASA. The galactic duo are best viewed in May and can be spotted with the aid of binoculars, or a modest telescope from a dark sky location.

Brecher captured the galactic chain between April 17 and 27 using a Skywatcher Esprit 120 telescope paired with an astronomy camera and a range of filters and peripherals from his home in the city of Guelph, Canada. He then combined over nine and a half hours of light data to create his galactic vista.

To find Markarian's chain in the spring sky, you first need to locate the constellation Leo, which shines high in the southwestern horizon in the hours following sunset in spring. Navigate to the bright star Denebola, which represents the tail of the mighty lion represented in the constellation and then find the star Vindemiatrix in the constellation Virgo to its lower left. Markarian's Chain can be found by sweeping a 6-inch telescope across the patch of sky halfway between the two.

Looking to upgrade your gear? Then why not check out our roundups of the best telescopes for exploring the night sky, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you want to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Josh Dury captured a stunning view of the Milky Way arcing through the night sky above Scotland's Isle of Skye, as shooting stars carved fiery paths through Earth's atmosphere.

"With my star tracker engaged, I sat on a small boulder with river water running between my feet — thank god I brought wellies!", Dury recalled in an email to Space.com. "The most magical moment of all, as with any experience with the stars, is when you know all is safe; the camera is running and then - turn off the red torch."

Dury's composite image reveals several bright Lyrid meteors racing alongside the Milky Way, while colossal dust lanes darken the dense star fields along the galactic plane. A trio of waterfalls known as the "Three Brothers of Skye" glisten below, their waters taking on an ethereal, glassy appearance through long-exposure photography.

Vega, the fifth brightest star in the night sky, shines near the top of the image, with the stars of the constellation Lyra. Below, sits Altair, while Deneb glows to the left, representing the tail of the great swan in the constellation Cygnus. Together, these stars form a famous asterism known as the Summer Triangle.

"To see the reality was nothing short of magical - with the sound of gushing water, the ghostly appearance of the waterfall and the splendour of the milky way rising over The Three Brothers of Skye was just utterly romantic and purely magnificent," Dury continued.

The North American Nebula shines to the lower left of Deneb, named for its resemblance to the North American continent, while the 120-light-year-wide supernova remnant known as the Cygnus Loop glows closer to the horizon.

Dury captured the image using a series of 30-second exposures with a Sony A7S III camera and Sigma 14 mm DGDN lens stabilized on a Benro Tortoise 24CLV tripod fitted with a Move Shoot Move NOMAD star tracker. He then combined and edited the individual exposures into a single composite scene, revealing stunning detail in both the terrestrial and cosmic subjects alike.

Interested in capturing your own images of our galaxy? Then be sure to check out our guide to photographing the Milky Way, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your galactic astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Just weeks before the first Artemis 2 launch window, astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy had a last-minute idea: What if he could get the Artemis 2 astronauts to shoot the moon the same way he shoots the moon?

So McCarthy slid into the DMs (direct messages) of Artemis 2 commander and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman. He knew getting a response at such a late date was a long shot, but he couldn't pass up the chance for a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration. And the long shot came through.

"He was immediately onboard," McCarthy told Space.com in an interview. "It was a dream come true, obviously, for me, but I saw it as this very unique opportunity."

NASA's Artemis 2 mission launched on April 1, flying four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the far side of the moon that captivated people across the world. The astronauts snapped breathtaking photos of the moon, which showed beautifully haunting views of the lunar far side that Artemis 2 crew member Christina Koch of NASA described as "the most ominous thing I've ever loved."

On Earth, McCarthy combines hundreds to thousands of photos of the moon to bring out details you can't see in a single image. The results are colorful landscapes that look more like paintings than the gray orb we're used to seeing hang in the night sky, but the diversity he presents in his images come down to lunar spectroscopy rather than artistic interpretation.

"It's very true life in a sense that everything you're seeing is real features on the surface that your eyes just simply don't have the color sensitivity to make out on their own," McCarthy said. He explained that his approach to astrophotography is all about showing you the things your eyes can't see.

"I don't want to show you something the way your eyes see it. I want to show you something as if you had superhuman vision … I want to show you the moon as if you had cyborg eyes, because your cyborg eyes can actually pick out the color differences," McCarthy said. "The camera becomes cyborg eyes for our vision."

"The color is naturally there, just much more subtle to your eyes," he added. Some color differences on the moon are possible to see with your eyes, using binoculars or a telescope, and there are ways to trick your eyes into noticing more of the contrast than you realize.

"If you take a normal photo of the moon with a DSLR and just completely desaturate it, you can tell the difference," McCarthy explained. "When you return it to regular saturation, it suddenly seems a little more colorful."

For his collaboration with Wiseman, McCarthy wanted to see if he could get the same colorful results with a camera from the lunar far side.

"Usually you can't get very high-fidelity color data from the far side of the moon," McCarthy said. "We've got LRO [NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter], which has some color data, but … it's too low fidelity to do the kind of saturation pumps that show the really granular geological differences in the regolith."

McCarthy outlined a plan with Wiseman and NASA's lunar photography team, which was responsible for teaching the Artemis 2 crew how to use the cameras they brought aboard the Orion capsule during their mission. "They worked it in where he would shoot bursts in different exposures and different times, depending on where they were during the flyby," McCarthy explained.

Stacking is the key to McCarthy's lunar imagery, enabling him to turn the subtle variations of color in an image of the moon into the rich browns and blues seen in his edits. The technique isn't a new one in the astrophotography world, but no one had ever tried it before using photos from the far side of the moon.

The colors themselves indicate the diverse distribution of different minerals across the moon's surface and reveal key information about chemical composition of the soil and rocks. Titanium-rich basalts, for example, take on a bluish hue, while iron-rich or older, weathered material can appear in shades of brown and red.

"You can do it with a single photo, but it's really, really low resolution from a noise standpoint," McCarthy said. "What's different about those different photos is the noise, because noise, by definition, is random. So, when I'm stacking those photos together, I'm able to average out that noise, and then that noise vanishes … That's why you hear astrophotographers talk about the signal-to-noise ratio, because when you stack, the signal stays the same, but the noise diminishes."

NASA has published its own "mineral moon" photos in the past, like the one shot using the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft as it swung by Earth for a gravity assist in 1992, but McCarthy said the quality of images from space probes can't match the dynamics of a human with a good camera.

"With the really, really high-fidelity image stacks from the stuff that Reid got, I'm able to bring out that saturation," McCarthy said.

McCarthy also noticed a huge difference in the quality of Wiseman's individual photos compared to those McCarthy takes on the ground, pointing to the lack of a lunar atmosphere as a contributing factor.

"On Earth, you're dealing with atmosphere in the way, and atmosphere actually adds a color cast to the moon," he said. "I'm often shooting 150 to 200 photos just to barely be able to get out the color .... It's way more than that if I'm doing it with a mosaic — sometimes thousands of photos."

Comparatively, McCarthy found he needed to stack far fewer of the images Wiseman took from the lunar far side. "I was able to cut down the number of exposures used," he said. "Maybe [Wiseman] shot 50 exposures. I only ended up using 10 to 15."

"It's been quite fun working this data, not only because of the features I've never seen before, but also, the data is just so clean," McCarthy said. "It is phenomenally clean. It's the best data I've ever worked."

Since Artemis 2's April 10 splashdown, NASA has released more than 12,000 images taken by the astronauts during their flight around the moon. McCarthy says he's only scratched the surface of how he wants to use the wealth of material, and he expects to release more edits in the future.

"I'm just going to keep working the data. There are some close-up shots I haven't worked or published yet. Nothing too crazy. I'm going to go into the highlands a little deeper," McCarthy said.

The moonless nights of mid-May are a fantastic time to spot the glowing band of the Milky Way arching across the spring sky, before the encroaching twilight of the summer months shortens the viewing window.

When is the best time to spot the Milky Way?

The best time to spot the Milky Way in the northern hemisphere is from February to October, often referred to as "Core Season", when Earth's orbit brings the bright heart of our galaxy into view.

Each Core Season has peak windows of visibility centering around the monthly new moon. This month's new moon on May 16 will provide darker skies ideal for spotting our galaxy's glowing core.

The best time to see the Milky Way's core is between midnight and dawn, when the ribbon of interstellar dust, gas and countless stars is at its highest in the night sky. The May new moon also provides a longer window for viewing the deep sky wonder compared to the June new moon, which occurs close to the summer solstice, when twilight eats further into the dark of night.

Where to look to see the Milky Way

For the best view of the Milky Way, you'll need to head out to a dark sky location and direct your gaze to the southern sky. There, you'll see the dense core of our galaxy arching past the constellations Aquila, Scutum, Sagittarius and Scorpius as it tumbles towards the horizon.

Remember to use a trusted website like DarkSky.org to find a dark sky location near you, along with smartphone astronomy apps like Stellarium or Sky Safari 7 Pro to help plan your skywatching excursion. We would also recommend using Time and Date's daylight tracker to discover the exact timings for twilight and night for your specific location.

Want to capture gorgeous images of our galaxy shining in the night sky? Then be sure to read our beginner's guide to photographing the Milky Way, along with our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your photos of the Milky Way with Space.com's readers, then please send your image(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Here at Space.com, we love the night sky, rocket launches and sci-fi just as much as you do. Each month (from here on out) we want to celebrate that love by bringing you a collection of eclectic staff photos that show you a little of what we've been up to.

Expect launch photos, snaps of historic hardware destined for space, images of the night sky and, from time to time, photographic evidence of our entertainment editor Ian Stokes infiltrating Amazon's London office to sneak a peek at their May the 4th Star Wars offering … allegedly.

Don't forget! We love nothing more than seeing your discussions in the comments section under each article and, of course, featuring and enjoying your astrophotography, which you can share with us and the readers at spacephotos@space.com!

Photos from Space (.com)

We'll kick off with our spaceflight writer Josh Dinner, who took a road trip down to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to report first hand on the historic launch of the Artemis 2 mission to the far side of the moon!

"Witnessing SLS launch from the press site was more than just seeing the rocket liftoff  —  it was feeling it," Dinner told Space.com. "The shake and crackle of the solid boosters and legacy shuttle tech ripping through the sky is truly one to behold, and shooting Artemis 2 was an absolute experience. Whenever I photograph a launch, I always shoot at least a little underexposed. Accounting for the flame is important, especially when it comes to those blindingly bright solids."

"From farther away, you don't want to set your shutter too fast, but for my launchpad cameras, up close, that's where I'll plan for minimum exposure time. It makes your RAW images dark everywhere else, but that's all easily brought out in minor edits. I love getting to see the details of the flames as they explode from the rocket's engines.

"And with Artemis 2 I got extra lucky with some small water droplets that didn't quite dry off the lens as my cameras braved a rain storm the night before liftoff. They created some nice flares I think really add some uniqueness."

Managing editor Brett Tingley, meanwhile, set his sights further afield to photograph a stunning spiral galaxy shining 11.6 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major.

"On March 28, 2026, I hiked out to a dark area in the Appalachian mountains to capture some deep sky objects," explained Tingley. "Bode's Nebula (Messier 81) was positioned perfectly overhead during the evening hours, allowing for a perfect long-exposure shot. Despite its name, Messier 81 is actually a galaxy - one of the brightest in the night sky."

"This was taken with a Celestron Origin Mk II using a nebula filter, enabling me to capture its spiral shape in great detail. It's incredible to be able to set up a smart telescope and watch images like this one develop in real time, putting deep space objects out in the cosmos right at our fingertips"

Space.com astronomy editor Monisha Ravisetti was lucky enough to spend a little time with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland earlier this month, ahead of its planned September 2026 launch.

"As a space journalist, it's tremendously routine for me to write about space telescopes," said Ravisetti. "I've pored over vast cosmic landscapes imaged by the tried and true Hubble Space Telescope, but what sticks out is this instrument launched before I was born. More times than I can count, I've tried to make sense of ancient black holes or glowing nebulas that sit millions of light-years away from me, but often, I owe these sights to the James Webb Space Telescope.

"Indeed, I've only seen the JWST in photos. My iPhone lock screen used to be a Euclid image, but again, I've never seen Euclid itself. These physical observatories have therefore remained in my imagination just like the universe they observe — places I'll never be able to explore."

"The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is the first observatory headed beyond Earth that I got to see in person. It was a surprising experience. Did it look as grand as you'd expect something so pivotal to look? Not really, honestly. It was relatively compact, industrial and most importantly, comprehensible. It appeared as a piece of real, mechanical equipment.

"But while I looked on, I started to realize why it seemed profound to be this telescope's witness. It's surreal to remember a very reasonable object will eventually show us corners of our universe we haven't yet reasoned with. It's surreal to remember that these telescopes really aren't just intangible items in my imagination, and neither are those cosmic places I'll never explore."

Skywatching editor Daisy Dobrijevic captured a gorgeous view of the Triangulum Galaxy, using a smart telescope that cut through the light-polluted city sky to reveal fantastic detail on the deep sky object.

"I captured this view of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33) from my garden in Nottingham, U.K., using the Vaonis Vespera Pro," said Dobrijevic. "Despite working under Bortle 6 skies, I built up 3 hours of total exposure time across multiple nights, taking advantage of the Vespera Pro's multi-night observing mode — an invaluable feature when clouds inevitably roll in."

"I was genuinely surprised by just how much detail I could pull out in such a short amount of time, especially given the light pollution!"

Space.com editor-in-chief joined Dinner in Florida to witness the launch of Artemis 2 first hand, before heading out to Houston to report on the astronaut's progress as they broke the record for the most distant crewed spaceflight in human history, ahead of their safe return to Earth.

"I have waited my entire life to see astronauts launch to the moon," recalled Malik. "It was worth it. For just about my entire career, NASA has been trying to send astronauts back to the moon. First, it was Project Constellation and a goal of 2020. Then, maybe it was 2024. Then Constellation was cancelled and I instead watched dozens of space shuttle and rocket launches stay in low-Earth orbit. Even Artemis 1 in 2024, I missed. It was scrubbed several times (I saw them all) and when it finally did fly, I couldn't be there."

"But a month ago, Artemis 2 was something else. I've seen the largest rocket on Earth — SpaceX's Starship — launch (and explode) and that was loud. But watching four astronauts launch on NASA's most powerful rocket since the Saturn V hits different. First, it was SO LOUD. Much louder than the Starship launch because we were just 3 miles away (about 2 miles closer). You felt it in your bones and it drowned out all sound. But also because there were PEOPLE on this one. Four astronauts that I have spoken with personally at one time or another. Then they went to the moon.

And for the first time in my 49 years, more than half of that as a space reporter, I feel like a new space age is finally beginning, one in which astronauts finally reach the moon to stay, then Mars, and then who knows where else? (I vote for Titan and Venus, but that's just me.)"

Our senior producer/video wizard Steve Spaleta chose to reminisce over a collection of legendary aircraft — and the creation of a legendary photo.

"After covering the unveiling of Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Unity at the Mojave Air and Space Port in February 2016, Dave Brody (Space.com’s former exec. producer) and I visited the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale. The photo here shows a retired Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a Boeing 747-100SR—one of only two ever used to ferry space shuttles.

"The outdoor aerospace museum, free to the public, also features a Lockheed JetStar used by NASA, along with several military aircraft, including a B-52 Stratofortress. Dave Brody snapped the image and joked, “add a Rick or an Alembic, and that’s an album cover.”

Harry Bennett, our e-commerce staff writer and overall photography enthusiast snapped a stunning view of Vega shining in the constellation Lyra.

"Vega shines a beautiful white-blue with four prominent diffraction spikes, giving it an angelic presence amongst a vast star field, " said Bennett. "It is the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest in the northern hemisphere. I took this shot using the enhanced vision mode on the Unistellar Odyssey Pro, which stacks four-second exposures continuously until you stop it."

"I have a soft spot for it because it is the first smart telescope I ever used and it gave me the ability to capture mind-blowing images of night sky objects even from a city center. It is fully automatic and can orient itself, find a target and start imaging all from a few presses on your smartphone. People can be swept up in smart telescopes’ ability to capture amazing detail on deep-sky objects like galaxies but forget that imaging individual stars can really make you feel magical."

Entertainment editor Ian Stokes went off campus to take a look at Amazon's office in London in disguise as a scout trooper. At least we think it's Ian?

"I channelled my inner Bothan and managed to infiltrate the Amazon office in London and while they didn’t have the droids I was looking for, they did have a bunch of Star Wars merch on display ahead of the May the Fourth festivities. They had a bunch of cool lightsabers, figurines, and helmets for staff and visitors to check out, including the snazzy scout trooper helmet that I’m sporting here.

"Sadly I was escorted from the premises when I tried to add myself to the cast list for the new Stargate show they’re working on."

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your photography with Space.com's staff and readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Mark Germani captured a phenomenal view of the Pleiades open star cluster surrounded by glowing blue nebulas 445 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus.

Germani's deep-space photo reveals dozens of stars from the Pleiades, a cluster of over 1,000 blue-white stars, including its seven brightest members Alcyone, Asterope, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Maia and Taygete, from which it gets its nickname of the "Seven Sisters".

The bright stars are surrounded by vast interstellar clouds of dust and gas known as reflection nebulas, which preferentially reflect the blue light of nearby stars, according to NASA. Astronomers believe the dust is not material left over from the cluster's formation, but a cloud the Pleiades is simply moving through.

Germani spent over 18 hours imaging the Pleiades from his viewpoint in Vancouver, Canada, using an Askar SQA55 quintuplet refractor telescope and ZWO astronomy camera fitted with a filter designed to block wavelengths of ultraviolet and infrared light.

"I have had some difficulty with M45 in the past, so I decided to take a different approach with this image, ditching my light pollution filter and swapping in a UV/IR-cut filter in an effort for better colour and more faint dusty detail," Germani told Space.com in an email. "I managed 7 nights in January and snuck in a few extra hours on a night in February."

After soaring high in the winter sky, it's becoming increasingly difficult to spot the Pleiades. Currently, it can be found shining low on the western horizon in the hours following sunset in late April, but it sets less than two hours after the sun.

In its place rises a host of spring constellations filled with galaxies and other deep sky wonders! Be sure to check out our roundups of the best telescopes and binoculars if you want to explore the night sky for yourself, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your night sky photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your images along with your comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) looks spectacular in a new snapshot. But something about it might really surprise you.

It looks like this detailed image of a far-off galaxy was captured an advanced space telescope, or a huge ground-based scope. However, it was actually snapped with a camera sporting a telephoto lens from right here on Earth.

What is it?

The SMC is a dwarf galaxy that holds hundreds of millions of stars. The galaxy is near our very own Milky Way; in fact, it's one of our closest neighbors. Still, it is nearly 200,000 light-years away.

Despite that distance, the SMC can be seen with the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere.

This unique visibility may have played a role in this spectacular image, which was captured by Petr Horálek, a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador, using a camera and a wide-aperture telephoto lens on the mountain Cerro Pachón in Chile. This image capture took four hours under the dark skies above the mountain.

Why is it incredible?

In looking at this photo, you might assume it was captured by a space telescope like Hubble. It's a detailed and striking view of this far-off galaxy.

But Horálek captured this image with just a camera and telephoto lens. NOIRLab's ambassador program is a joint venture with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and ambassadors share science with the public and their local communities.

This image is beautiful, but it also represents an exciting achievement in astrophotography.

Astrophotographer Zachary Cooper created this magnificent view of March's first quarter moon, using clever editing to reveal dramatic detail and shadows on the sunlit side, while also capturing the ethereal glow of "earthshine" on its shadowed half. Here's how he did it.

Cooper set out to photograph the moon using an 80 millimeter (3.14 inch) refractor telescope and ZWO astronomy camera as it glowed half-lit in the skies above the city of Yorba Linda, California, on March 25.

Dark lunar seas, bright young craters and dramatic shadows dominate the moon's ancient surface near the line where night and day collide, known as the terminator — or, as Cooper calls it, the "sunset strip".

However, this is no ordinary picture of the waxing moon. It's a clever composite, created by capturing and merging multiple photos with different settings to tease out detail on both the sunlit and shadowed sides of the lunar disk.

"Many people are surprised to learn that the night side of the Moon, when facing Earth, isn't actually completely dark. Sunlight reflecting off the oceans and clouds of Earth slightly illuminates the unlit portion of the Moon, in a phenomenon known as "Earthshine." However, this gentle glow is incredibly dim when compared to the illuminated side, and it's impossible to properly capture both in one photograph."

To compensate, Cooper captured 150 individual 5-millisecond exposures of the moon and combined the best 15 frames to create a detailed view of the sunlit half. He then took a further 100 5-second exposures, combining the top 10 frames to reveal faint earthshine illuminating the dark side.

Cooper's next challenge was to painstakingly merge the two components into a single, unified image — a task that proved particularly difficult around the terminator, where the two halves met.

"That area is full of intense contrast, which is great for detail, but challenging to blend," explained the photographer. "To give the final image some depth and context, I kept the stars and lunar glow from the 5 second exposures and softly blended them in around the Moon."

The end result is a gorgeous portrait of Earth's natural satellite, which combines the silvery glow and long, detail-laden shadows of the daylight side with the otherworldly suggestion of earthshine.

"That moment of completion was incredibly rewarding, as I felt like I had finally represented the first quarter moon as it might appear in person," continued Cooper. "I often thought of the perspective of the Artemis II astronauts approaching the Moon as I worked on the project. In that way, the image became more than just a photography project. It's a glimpse of the Moon as a destination, not just something we observe from afar."

Want to capture your own detailed photos of the moon? Then why not check out our guide to imaging the lunar disk using a DSLR or mirrorless camera? If you're looking to upgrade your equipment, then you should also peruse our roundups of the best lenses and cameras for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your moon photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your image(s), along with your comments, name and the location of your shoot to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Josh Dury captured a magnificent view of comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) glowing in the predawn sky among the stars of the constellation Pegasus on April 12.

PanSTARRS' bright, central nucleus was photographed rising low over the Mendip Hills nature reserve in Somerset, England, as light pollution created a false dawn in the long-exposure image.

The comet's sweeping tail extends over approximately 10 degrees of sky — roughly the equivalent of your clenched fist held at arm's length — created as reflective material from the nucleus is pushed outward and shaped by charged particles flowing outward from the sun, known as the solar wind.

It was, in some ways, a meeting of the ancients. Dury chose the Mendip Hills as the location of his shoot because of its links to the distant past. The region was home to the remains of "Cheddar Man", a roughly 10,000-year-old skeleton discovered in 1902 and later became the oldest British individual to have his genome sequenced, according to the University College London.

Comet PanSTARRS meanwhile, has a history that stretches back billions of years to the formation of the solar system. "The story and age of this comet is harrowing," Dury told Space.com. With an estimated inbound orbital period of around 170,000 years, the comet likely originates from the distant Oort Cloud — a shell of icy objects that surrounds our parent star at a distance ranging between 10,000-100,000 times the Earth-sun divide, according to NASA.

"Its passage from the Oort Cloud makes some of the earliest primitive finds of Britain minuscule through the ravages of time," continued Dury. The comet is currently bright enough to be seen with the naked eye as a hazy patch of light from a dark sky location, ahead of its close brush with the sun during perihelion on April 19-20. A pair of 10X50 binoculars will help to reveal its glowing nucleus and perhaps a hint of its tail.

Dury was able to reveal the beauty of its tail by capturing 33 separate long-exposure images with his Sony A7S III camera and Sigma 135mm F/1.4 lens, before combining and editing them using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to increase the signal-to-noise ratio.

Want to take gorgeous images of solar system comets for yourself? Then be sure to check out our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our expert guide to photographing wandering comets.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Artemis 2 crew captured this majestic photo of the Milky Way through the window of their Orion spacecraft "Integrity" on April 7, less than a day after completing a historic lunar flyby that saw them temporarily lose communications with Earth as they looped around the far side of the moon.

What is it?

A river of shining stars and dusty filaments marks the galactic plane of the Milky Way — the colossal galaxy that we call home. This particular view of our host galaxy doesn't look directly towards the core, but rather into one of its spiral arms, where countless deep-space objects areshining against the blackness of space.

Why is it amazing?

The pink cloud at the center of the shot is the Homunculus Nebula, a vast glowing structure of interstellar dust and gas 7,500 light-years from Earth, according to NASA, created in the wake of a cataclysmic eruption of the double star system Eta Carinae.

Star clusters and dimmer nebulas are visible threaded through the galactic plane, while the Large Magellanic Cloud — a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way — appears as a hazy patch of light to the bottom right of the shot.

From space, the crewmember who captured the image was blissfully free of the atmospheric interference that usually comes hand in hand with capturing the glowing band of the Milky Way. However, a slight blurring of stars at the edge of the frame seems to betray the subtle motion of the spacecraft — or camera — over the course of the 10-second exposure.

When was it taken?

The image was captured less than a day after NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen executed a historic flyby of the lunar surface that took them farther from Earth than any human before them.

Over the coming days, the Artemis 2 crew will perform a series of course correction burns to finesse their trajectory as they journey back to Earth, before finally splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Francisco at the culmination of their 10-day space odyssey.

Want to know more? Then be sure to stay up to date with the latest news with our Artemis 2 liveblog and to check out our Artemis program reference page for answers to all of your Artemis questions as NASA and its partners look to establish a sustainable presence on the moon.

In August 2025, astrophotographer Rod Prazeres received a strange Instagram message that seemed a little too good to be true — a "small production company" wanted to license his images for use in an undisclosed sci-fi movie.

Prazeres' initially — and reasonably — assumed that he was being scammed. After all, how many production companies and movie studios approach collaborators by sliding into their DMs and asking for space pics? Several months and a binding non-disclosure agreement later, his images would appear on the silver screen as a magnificent backdrop for the credits of Project Hail Mary, the Ryan Gosling-fronted adaptation of Andy Weir's beloved novel of the same name.

Project Hail Mary launched to both critical acclaim and impressive box office earnings earlier in March. More impressively, it managed to maintain a sense of charm and wonder at the cosmos throughout its 156-minute runtime that compelled us here at Space.com to praise it as the optimistic look towards the stars that humanity needs right now. The film also drew heavily from real-world biology, space exploration and science, which grounded the blockbuster's fantastic story in reality and an air of authenticity. Prazeres' astrophotography — and the drive to showcase real deep space images over CGI as the credits rolled — added to that sense of authenticity.

"So the first thing I thought was, you know, it's a scam," Prazeres told Space.com in an interview. “The second thing I thought was that maybe it was for a local film, or something tied to a local festival. Since he mentioned the company name, I went online to look up both him and the company to check that it was genuine.” Prazeres went on to create what he jokingly called a "dossier" on the company to determine if they were genuine.

Next followed a series of conference calls, accompanied by the signing of an NDA. For months, Prazeres and the production company discussed using his images for a sequence earlier in the movie, but as the producers' creative vision shifted, things began to look uncertain.

"They got back to me and said, oh, you know, it may not be going ahead," recalled Prazeres, "but there may be a place to [work with] some of these materials for something else" Weeks later, the production company broached the possibility of using Prazeres' deep space imagery to close out the blockbuster movie.

The chain of events is all the more noteworthy given the relatively brief time that Prazeres has been capturing the night sky. His first experience of deep sky astrophotography came in July 2023 when he captured a view of the Omega Nebula (Messier 17), which glows in the constellation Sagittarius 5,500 light-years from Earth, according to NASA. The years that followed saw Prazeres embark on a personal journey to research and learn the craft, which saw him attend multiple workshops with veteran astrophotographers. One of Prazeres' nebula shots was even shortlisted for the Best Newcomer award in the Royal Observatory Greenwich's 2024 Astrophotographer of the Year competition, eight months into his astro training.

Of course, working with Amazon MGM Studios to help illustrate a major blockbuster was on an entirely different level from anything that had come before, and all because his photography had drawn the eyes of a production company searching Google Images for views of the Milky Way. "Never in a million years would I have expected that to happen, even if I had 10 years experience, 20 experience, let alone two and a half?"

The images selected for the credit sequence took a cumulative 396 hours to capture using two telescopes, a William Optics RedCat 51 II and a Askar 130PHQ, in conjunction with a host of specialized ZWO astronomy cameras, filters and peripherals.

The images include some of the most famous nebulas in the night sky such as the Carina Nebula, the Fighting Dragons of Ara and the distinctive Vela Supernova Remnant, each of which was painstakingly edited to bring out spectacular detail in the deep space vistas.

However, for all the structural beauty of the swirling clouds of dust and gas, one key element was intentionally omitted — none of the images used in Project Hail Mary's credit sequence contained a single star. The stellar bodies, which are central to the plot of the sci-fi epic, were intentionally removed during the editing stage using special astrophotography software to prevent them from interfering with the foreground subtitles.

"It's relatively simple to do it," explained Prazeres. "You've just got to make sure it's done without, you know, damaging anything in the image and not adding or altering anything from the underlying data".

Prazeres finally went to see Project Hail Mary a few days ahead of the worldwide release, surrounded by his wife, children and extended family having been bound for months not to share his experience of contributing to the movie with those around him.

"You know, it is a creative process that the producers could have just woken up one day and decided black screen on credits is perfectly fine and not move on," reasoned Prazeres. "So that whole situation, all these months of keeping this to myself and working with the studio to get it going, it was very nerve wracking. But now that it's out there, I'm just, yeah, there's no feeling to describe it."

Inspired to begin your own astrophotography journey? Then be sure to check out our roundups of the best lenses and cameras for astrophotography, along with our beginner's guide to photographing the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Greg Meyer took aim at the constellation Corvus to capture a majestic view of the Antennae Galaxies, whose once spiral forms have been rendered chaotic as they merge into a single elliptical monster of a galaxy.

The deep space image captures a fleeting moment in a titanic struggle that has lasted hundreds of millions of years, as the gravitational influence of the galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 pulls at one another to create chaos on a truly cosmic scale.

"I have a Sky-Watcher Esprit 120 [telescope] with a focal length of 840mm, which is a little short for most galaxies, this being galaxy season now," Meyer told Space.com in an email. "So whenever I see a picture of a galaxy, I see if it is within reach for me by checking Astrobin for photos taken with the same scope. And since this is such a cool image of 2 galaxies, with an amazing backstory, I had to go for it."

Meyer's shot reveals the orange-yellow cores of the dueling galaxies glowing in a maelstrom of interstellar dust, gas and stars, from which a pair of sweeping "tidal tails" made from elongated spiral arms reach out for light-years on either side. The sweeping structures bear a striking resemblance to the sensory organs sported by members of the insect world, which eventually granted them the nickname of the Antennae Galaxies.

The cosmic tug of war has triggered an outburst of star formation, which has led to the creation of "super star clusters" in the vast antenna-like arms, according to NASA. 90% of these goliath clusters are likely to disperse as the galaxies merge and settle, while others will persevere as globular clusters.

Meyer dedicated just under 21 hours of observation time collecting light from the distant galaxies using a series of astronomy filters as they glowed in the skies over the Starfront Observatory in Rockwood, Texas. The light data was then compiled and edited using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom in concert with the astrophotography software PixInsight.

Want to capture gorgeous images of the night sky for yourself? Then take a look at our roundup of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our beginner's guide to imaging the post sunset sky.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Planning, uncertainty, a last-minute road trip and elation in the battle against cloud cover. Malaysian photographer Tharuman Gnanamoorthy set off on a personal mission to capture the March 3 Blood Moon total lunar eclipse.

Gnanamoorthy's stunning composite photos document the mesmerizing beauty of the orange-red full moon as it rose fully eclipsed over the eastern coast of Malaysia, along with the waning partial phases that followed as Earth's shadow slipped from its ancient surface. They represent the culmination of weeks of planning, skill and luck, which may never have come to fruition had a single decision fallen the wrong way.

"This eclipse was a particularly meaningful experience for me, shaped as much by the challenges on the ground as by the celestial event itself," Gnanamoorthy told Space.com in an email. The weeks leading up to the event had seen Gnanamoorthy rehearsing the workflow for his dual-imaging setup from his home in the Seremban region of the Malay Peninsula, where he works as a paediatrician.

Gnanamoorthy kept a watchful eye on the weather forecast as the eclipse drew closer, tracking cloud fronts that could make or break his expedition. "At one point, I even experimented with trying to "train" my Seestar S50 to detect the moon through cloud cover — an attempt that, unsurprisingly, proved futile," lamented Gnanamoorthy.

He had initially planned to pack up his equipment and embark on a 280-mile (450-kilometer) trip north to the western coastal city of Alor Setar in the state of Kedah, after using Google Earth and Photopills to meticulously plan the shoot.

His goal was to capture the blood moon as it rose fully immersed in Earth's shadow at sunset on March 3, as our planet passed between the sun and moon during the climactic phase of the total lunar eclipse. During this phase, also known as totality, light filtered by Earth's atmosphere would be bent onto the lunar disk, turning it a bloody red hue.

As the day of the eclipse dawned, the weather over Alor Setar deteriorated, forcing Gnanamoorthy to abandon his original plan in favor of a new destination on the eastern shoreline of the peninsula, close to the city of Kota Bharu, 310 miles (500 km) to the north. With luck, he would find a spot with a clear view of the moon as it rose, eclipsed over the South China Sea, and hope that clouds didn't arrive to ruin the show.

"Faced with this uncertainty, I made a last-minute decision to drive across the country," recalled Gnanamoorthy. "The journey took more than seven hours, cutting across the peninsula with little room for delay. I needed to arrive before sunset to scout for a suitable location and set up my equipment."

Gnanamoorthy would use a Sony A7 III mirrorless camera paired with a 300 mm telephoto lens and a Seestar S50 smart telescope to capture the scene. The mirrorless camera was used to snap bracketed exposures — where the same scene is imaged with a variety of exposure durations — while the smart telescope was tasked with capturing RAW footage of the eclipse.

"I eventually settled on a stretch of coastline at Pantai Pak Amat, just outside Kota Bharu, with a clear eastern horizon over the South China Sea," explained Gnanamoorthy. "Conditions were not perfect — low clouds still hugged the horizon — but they were far more promising than those on the west coast."

Gnanamoorthy waited alone on the deserted beach as the appointed moment of moonrise came and went, hidden behind an impenetrable barrier of cloud that had settled low on the horizon.

Emotions rose as the fleeting phase of totality continued to ebb away with the moon lost from sight behind a veil of clouds. Finally, a little over 30 minutes after moonrise, the clouds parted, revealing the lunar disk as it passed through the deepest section of our planet's shadow, while bathed in the orange-red light of every sunrise and sunset on Earth.

"It was an incredible moment," recounted Gnanamoorthy. "For a brief instant, I simply stood there, stunned. Then instinct took over. I moved quickly between both systems, following the imaging workflow I had rehearsed."

The payoff was spectacular.

Gnanamoorthy combined the bracketed images captured using the Sony A7III with footage from the Seestar S50 in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to create gorgeous compositions that chronicled the blood moon's transformation from rusty crimson back to its usual silvery lustre.

"One unexpected aspect of the experience came afterward," said Gnanamoorthy. "I later discovered that Pantai Pak Amat is historically significant — it marks the landing site of Japanese forces in Malaya on December 8, 1941. I returned the following morning to photograph the monument, along with the rising Milky Way core above the same coastline."

Inspired to begin your own astrophotography journey? Then be sure to read our guides to imaging the lunar surface and capturing the night sky. Don't forget to also peruse our roundups of the best cameras and lenses available in 2026 if you're new to photography, or simply want to upgrade your equipment.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The god of thunder appears to have misplaced his helmet in a new deep-space photo from Ronald Brecher, which captured glorious detail in a nebula scene surrounding a colossal star shining 15,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Canis Major, the "Great Dog".

Brecher's image reveals the 30-light-year-wide emission nebula NGC 2359, whose bubble-like form was sculpted by the stellar wind blasting out from the colossal Wolf-Rayet star at its heart. The stellar giant is estimated to be 16 times more massive and 280,000 times brighter than the sun, according to the Lowell Observatory.

A pair of wing-like nebula structures sweep away from NGC 2359's central bubble, giving it the appearance of a vast cosmic helmet remarkably similar to that worn by Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

The burst of activity that formed NGC 2359 — also known as Thor's Helmet — is merely the precursor to the cataclysmic natural light show to follow, when the ageing Wolf-Rayet star ends its life in a supernova explosion that will reshape the nearby interstellar environment.

Brecher captured the ionized glow of the distant nebula using a Celestron 14-inch EDGE HD telescope with a monochrome astronomy camera fitted with a series of narrowband filters in the skies over the city of Guelph,Canada, from March 8-13, 2026.

A little over 8 hours and 124 camera exposures went into the creation of the gorgeous deep space image, which was carefully stacked and processed using the astronomy software PixInsight. "I didn't think I could capture Thor's Helmet from my location," Brecher told Space.com in an email. "It skimmed the trees through my most light-polluted skies, awash in the glow of the Guelph's Auto Mall. But here we are!"

Want to capture your own deep space images? Then be sure to check out our beginner's guide to shooting the night sky with a DSLR camera and peruse our roundups of the best camera bodies and lenses for astrophotography if you're looking to upgrade your gear!

Editor's Note: Do you want to share your nebula photos with Space.com's readers? Then please send your photo(s) and comments, along with your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

If you're into astrophotography, you'll reach a point where standard tools like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop will only get you so far. Although these tools work as expected from an image-editing perspective, astrophotography requires you to work from a slightly different set of rules — often aligning, calibrating and stacking images of celestial objects — and many standard tools often don't provide these features.

Enter Siril, a free, open-source astronomical image-processing software designed to meet the needs of astrophotography enthusiasts. It's compatible with Linux, Windows and macOS, and it's becoming an increasingly popular choice among amateur astronomers who are seeking a cost-effective, at-home solution for their image-processing needs. We took the 1.2.6 version of the software for a spin to find out how it works.

Siril astrophotography software review

Siril astrophotography software: Pricing

• Free due to open-source approach
• Frequent updates that are often shared across the community

Siril is distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0, allowing users to download, use and modify the software at no cost, as long as the right credit and credentials are provided where appropriate. If you use Siril in any of your work, you're asked to credit the software using specific information featured on the Siril homepage. At a time of mass consumer photo editing software, this rather DIY, homespun approach that used to be the norm in the early days of computing is nice to see — and worth supporting.

The software is available for Linux, Windows and macOS, ensuring accessibility for a wide range of users. And because it's based on community-driven development, the software benefits from contributions from a dedicated group of developers and users who continuously work to improve the features and performance. The commitment to being a free and open-source tool makes Siril an attractive option for budget-conscious astrophotographers, as there are no costly subscriptions. What you get instead, however, is a steeper learning curve and less of a focus on shiny user-interface features to help you through the process — there's a lot to learn in Siril.

Siril astrophotography software: User interface

• Minimal user interface that may be unfamiliar to some
• Simple navigation once you understand the workflow

When presented with the initial view of Siril, you'd be forgiven for thinking the overall effect is a little intimidating, and perhaps akin to some of the early image-processing, script-based software programs you may have used in years gone by. But it's worth persevering; Siril's interface is organized into tabs that guide users through the sequential steps of image processing, from calibration to enhancement, and it's quite well laid out when you know what you're looking for. Before you delve into anything, visit the Siril tutorial section, which guides you through everything from getting started with the software to learning how to automate scripts, work with more advanced images, use noise reduction and complete complex computations, depending on the results you're after.

You'll be presented with an initial screen, and if you follow the tutorial, you'll need to put all of the images you want to work with in a separate folder and, within that, four other folders for "darks," "lights," "flats" and "biases." Once you do that, you can run a preprocessing script that essentially stacks these images for you automatically.

Siril astrophotography software: Key features

• Powerful automated stacking
• Postprocessing features that produce fantastic results

Once this stacking is completed, you will be presented with a file to open. This file will render your picture with all of the combined images together. (It will be placed in the Home folder, and you can open it by pressing Open on the top left of the Siril window.) You're not done yet, though. What you'll be presented with at first may look like a blurry, black-and-white approximation of what you hope your final image will look like.

There are a few steps to be completed next, including extracting the background and gradient, and using photometric color calibration to calculate the light that's emitted from each celestial body to correct the color. This feature is especially impressive, as the software will connect to global star databases and identify which stars and deep-sky bodies are in your image. If there's a match, it will automatically adjust the image to correct the color and focus based on these areas of the image you wish to highlight. It also offers multiple star alignment methods, including global star alignment and one-star alignment, thus facilitating the precise stacking of images to improve output.

All of this points to an advanced image-enhancement capability that sets Siril apart from other image-editing software. Its feature set encompasses the essential tools required for high-quality astrophotography image processing, especially of deeper space and detailed images. The preprocessing capabilities address common issues, such as sensor noise and vignetting, and lay a solid foundation for subsequent processing steps.

Siril astrophotography software: Astrophotography features

• Noise reduction algorithms
• Automated star recognition, which is powerful for color correction

In addition to the photometric analysis tools that can enable you to study a range of dark-sky features, the astro features of Siril extend beyond just image processing. Siril can handle a wide range of image and video formats, providing flexibility in data input and output. It's possible to use the software for a variety of scientific research applications, thanks to the rich detail it provides.

At the heart of Siril lies its scripting model. The ability to create and execute scripts enhances efficiency dramatically when you're dealing with extensive collections of high-quality images. The best part is that it is also highly customizable. If you know how, you can write your own scripts to edit specific elements of images.

From an astro perspective, one of Siril's key strengths is the way it handles noise during the stacking process when it aligns and combines multiple exposures. By stacking many frames, Siril uses statistical methods — like median or average stacking with rejection algorithms (e.g., sigma clipping or Winsorized sigma) — to naturally reduce random noise, such as thermal or read noise, while preserving real signals, like stars and nebulae.

Powerful background-extraction and gradient-removal tools help suppress unwanted light pollution or uneven illumination that can resemble noise, and post-processing. It offers wavelet-based denoising, allowing users to target noise at different levels of detail. This method preserves fine structures while minimizing grain, which is a critical feature for astrophotography, where the detail of your image is everything.

Should you download the Siril astrophotography software?

There's a lot to learn in the world of astrophotography, but when it comes to image editing, Siril opens up a whole new world by giving you ultimate control over your images. Because the software is open-source, it benefits from a huge amount of online information about it, and there are plenty of tutorials, images to practice on and expert guidance available for free, which is commendable in its own right.

For these reasons, I highly recommend Siril, and there are few competitors, especially when you consider this software is open-source and offered to the community for free.

For many people who are happy to tackle the formidable task of learning Siril inside out, there's no doubt that this software will be an invaluable resource for both seasoned and novice astrophotographers. By continually evolving through community-driven development, Siril ensures that users will always have access to cutting-edge tools for capturing and processing the wonders of the night sky.

If the Siril astrophotography software isn't for you

While Siril has a steep learning curve, Skylum Luminar Neo allows for fast editing and is affordable. There are many one-click editing tools available as well as AI tools to help make the job easier. If you're looking for a good software for noise reduction, DxO PhotoLab 7 should be your go-to. It has the best noise removal tool that we've tested.

If you're looking to only edit astro photos, Affinity Photo 2 is your best option. We've rated it as the best photo editing app for astro in our best photo editing apps guide. You can stack various types of calibration frames and it has a handy AI editing tool.

Astrophotographer Emil Andronic spent nearly 70 hours capturing the light of a beguiling reflection nebula near the head of the hunter in the constellation Orion, revealing impressive detail in the structure of the interstellar cloud as it glowed over the UK in late 2025.

Andronic's image reveals the blue reflection nebula designated Cederblad 51 glowing in the center of the image among the red clouds of the giant nebula SH 2-264. The region is also known as Orion's Head, owing to its proximity to the bright star Lambda Orionis, which represents the head of the celestial hunter.

Reflection nebulas are vast clouds of interstellar dust, that shine by scattering the blue light of nearby stars, according to NASA. Emission nebulas, meanwhile, glow with their own light, having been altered by the radiation of nearby stars.

"Ced 51 is a target that I wanted to capture for a very long time, but most of the time the conditions weren't that great and every time I ended up shooting something else," Andronic told Space.com in an email.

Andronic captured the nebula using a pair of 8-inch (200 mm) telescopes fitted with a series of specialized red, green blue and H-alpha filters and cooled astronomy cameras. The data was captured from Hertfordshire in the U.K. as the constellation Orion climbed higher into the autumn sky.

"This time, I started to gather my data early in the autumn, when Orion was just coming up into the night sky and this way…I managed to get 69 hours and 15 minutes worth of HaLRGB data," continued Andronic. "Because Greater London with its very bad light pollution is not very far from where I live, shooting LRGB in the South is a bit tricky, but after a careful selection of the best subs (exposures), I got a result that I am very pleased with."

The individual exposures were then carefully stacked and edited using the astronomy software PixInsight and good old Adobe Photoshop, resulting in a breathtaking nebula image studded with the multicolored light of countless stars.

Interested in falling in love with astrophotography for yourself? Then be sure to check out our collection of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our beginners guide to capturing the glowing band of the Milky Way with a DSLR camera. You can also check out our roundups of the best smart telescopes, which will have you taking your own incredible photos of galaxies and nebulas in no time!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Ogetay Kayali has captured a nebula resembling a jellyfish — or possibly a brain, depending on your perspective — shining 5,000 light-years from Earth near the bright star Propus, which represents one foot of a mythological twin represented in the constellation Gemini.

The nebula IC 443 is, in reality, a vast supernova remnant composed of stellar debris cast off in the cataclysmic death of an enormous star. The stellar body that spawned the remnant lingers on as a fast-spinning neutron star, or pulsar, which was detected in observations made by NASA's Chandra Space Telescope back in 2015.

Kayali's nebula view highlights the expanding structure of IC 443's luminous shell, which is visible to the upper right of the image, glowing alongside dense filaments of interstellar dust and gas punctuated by the multicolored light of stars in the foreground and background of the nebula. "This image captures the intricate shock fronts where stellar debris collides with surrounding interstellar gas, causing hydrogen to glow in deep crimson while faint filaments trace the blast wave's turbulent history," Kayali told Space.com in an email.

The distinctive appearance of IC 443's shell-like structure has led to it being nicknamed the "Jellyfish Nebula," owing to its resemblance to the aquatic creature — though, through clever capture, processing and angling, Kayali opted to highlight the nebula's similarity to a human brain in his composition.

"Ironically, jellyfish do not have a brain!" Kayali said. "Rather than isolating the bright shell alone, I framed the wider environment to reveal how the remnant interacts with its surroundings, emphasizing the contrast between emission structures and darker molecular clouds."

Kayali captured the nebula scene over the course of 17 hours as it glowed in the skies above Texas using his William Optics Redcat 51 III WFID telescope paired with a ZWO ASI2600MM astronomy camera and H-alpha filter.

Want to capture spectacular images of the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our guide to the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our roundup of the best telescopes for exploring the night sky!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your deep space astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars, on paper, seem to pack a punch for their size. They have been designed for anyone who wants to explore after dark without the bulk, weight or price tag of pro-grade gear.

They appear to offer clear, detailed viewing from dusk to total darkness. They feature a built-in rechargeable battery (thankfully!), HD recording, a focusable infrared beam and a simple five-button control. A smart blend of practicality and performance — exactly what you need for wildlife watching, animal research and surveys, camping trips, surveying outside or just satisfying your nighttime curiosity of what happens in your back garden after dark.

After reviewing the Nightfox Swift and the Nightfox 100V a couple of years ago, it's now the turn of the Nightfox Whisker, which seems superior on paper. Will they earn more than three and a half stars and make it into our best night vision binoculars guide, though?

Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars review

Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars: Design

• Nice build quality
• Multi-use buttons
• Firm zoom and focus wheels

The Nightfox Whisker has a nice weight to it; it feels sturdy but without being heavy. Compared with the Sigweis night vision binoculars that we reviewed in tandem, this is almost half the weight, no doubt mostly due to the lack of six AA batteries, as this unit is rechargeable.

There are five buttons on top of the unit in a line, with two wheels at the front on the left and one on the right.

The buttons control power, IR level, zoom, photo and video capture and mode selection. The IR level and zoom share the same buttons — a quick tap adjusts the IR level, while a long press controls zoom, which does take a little getting used to. We also occasionally found ourselves accidentally long-pressing the power button, turning the device off instead of pressing the adjacent zoom button. A different placement or textured finish on the power button would have helped prevent this. As the unit takes about four seconds to reboot, there’s a real chance you could miss your target if you hit the wrong button mid-action.

The left wheel controls optical zoom and focus, and the right wheel focuses the infrared beam and there is also the zoom adjustment. The wheels are fairly stiff to turn, and we found we needed a finger and thumb to make adjustments, much like how you would manually focus a camera lens. Perhaps these will loosen over time, with more use, but we like that they are unlikely to be accidentally knocked out of position once we have them where we want them. They each turn around 180 degrees with an obvious start and end point.

Once in focus, the image on the large LCD screen is pleasingly sharp and clear. You get plenty of detail, and the IR does a great job of what it is supposed to do: allowing you to see in the dark.

The casing's texture helps prevent slips, though since these night vision binoculars don't have a waterproof rating, it's unlikely you'll be using them in inclement weather. That said, we have taken them out in drizzle after dark and didn't feel they were particularly at risk of damage from a small amount of moisture. We did dry them off carefully afterwards, though.

The wrap around the large LCD screen seems to be well-shaped and doesn't let in much light when held up to the face, which minimizes reflections and glare on the screen.

Like the Sigweis (review to follow), one lens is an actual lens, and the other is an infrared LED light. The lens rotates to focus; anticlockwise to turn it into a focused spot, and clockwise to make it more of a floodlight.

Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars: Performance

• Clear display with good detail
• Adjustable optical zoom
• Illumination only comes from the right

Once you've charged up the binoculars after unboxing, you're good to go. The 32GB micro-SD comes pre-installed, so you're also ready to take photos and record videos of your finds straight away if you want to.

The 'M' or mode button lets you switch between photo and video shooting, or view and manage your previous media. The navigation is simple and can be figured out without referring to the manual. Ideally, we'd have liked separate buttons for video recording and photos, rather than having to cycle between modes, but it takes hardly any time at all to flick between them. The 'OK' button takes the photo or starts/ends recording when the appropriate mode is selected.

There are a whole heap of other settings at your disposal when you long-press the 'M' button. Here you can change the photo resolution, video size, backlight level, exposure, contrast, video sound (on or off) and more.

When observing, in the top left of the screen, a small blue icon tells you what mode you are in, next to that, in white, the resolution of the photo, or the recording quality of the video as well as the IR level, from zero to seven. In the top-left corner of the screen, you see the current time; in the bottom-left corner, the battery level indicator, which appears accurate.

The IR illumination range is 900 feet, which is 700 feet more than the Nightfox Swift. We could see the detail on an unlit building on the other side of a large playing field, even though it was pitch black. We could even play 'fetch' with our black dog without a flashlight, streetlights, or glow-in-the-dark balls!

Although the image on the screen seemed sharp during live viewing, the images we snapped while out and about turned out fairly low quality when we downloaded them, though good enough to serve as a record of your sightings, even if you won't win Wildlife Photographer of the Year with them. Remember, we're used to seeing images from some of the best cameras on the market, so perhaps our expectations were a little too high for this 16MP unit.

Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars: Functionality

• Rechargeable (with long battery life)
• Includes a 32GB microSD card
• No waterproof rating

The Nightfox Whisker is a robust digital night vision binocular that blends practical performance with advanced features for wildlife observation, surveying and general low-light outdoor use. A 32GB microSD card is supplied, and transferring the images from the device to your computer is as easy as transferring files on a memory card, just the same as a normal camera.

At its core is an adjustable optical zoom ranging from 1x to 10x, which gives you the option of either a wide 57-degree field of view at low magnification or the ability to zoom in for a closer look. Unexpectedly, the image sharpness becomes softer the more you zoom.

One standout practical feature is the long-life 5000 mAh rechargeable battery. Depending on the IR level usage, the battery lasts about five hours. This is great for extended viewing sessions. With the IR off, you can get around ten hours use out of the Nightfox Whisker (we haven't tested this personally). You can use it to record your daytime findings, too.

The Whisker feels sturdy in hand and is designed to withstand field conditions while remaining ergonomic and, compared with other models like the Sigweis Night Vision Binocular, relatively lightweight. As we mentioned, there isn't a waterproof rating, so although we think they would be fine in fog or drizzle, we wouldn't risk using them outside in anything worse than that.

Should you buy the Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars?

The Nightfox Whisker is a versatile option for both daytime and nighttime viewing, whether at close range or over long distances.

We think, compared with other models we have reviewed, the Whisker offers excellent value for money thanks to its extra features. The Whisker gives you greater control over zoom and focus and can record what you see as 16MP photos or AVI videos. We think this makes them ideal for field research.

Unlike some models that require up to eight non-rechargeable AA batteries, the Whisker doesn’t need any, saving you ongoing costs.

At the time of writing, these binoculars are available for around $200.

If the Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars aren't for you

If all you want from your night vision binoculars is to see what's in front of you in the dark, the Nightfox Swift does just that. They are head-mounted and more like night vision goggles for close-range viewing, and they are cheaper, too. The Nightfox 100V is even more affordable and better suited to stealthily watching wildlife in your back garden than for long-distance use.

Another pair of night vision binoculars we have recently tested (review to follow) are the Sigweis Night Vision Binoculars. They can also record photos and videos, but they require single-use batteries and are quite sizable.

For more ideas and alternative models, check out our round-up of the best night vision binoculars. We regularly update this with the best models as we find and review them.

You've taken the leap into purchasing one of the best cameras for astrophotography, which is obviously the first and undoubtedly biggest (and probably the most expensive) step. Sure, you will be able to get some awesome shots of the night sky, but we can assure you that even the best astrophotographers will have a whole heap of accessories that help them get those awe-inspiring shots. If only it were as easy as simply pointing your camera at a clear sky to get a stunning image of the cosmos, everyone would be doing it!

Thankfully, there are plenty of accessories that can help you. Of course, there is no doubt that tremendous skill, a lot of patience and hours spent in the cold are all factors you will have to contend with. But we have created this guide to point you in the right direction and improve your chances of capturing the images you aspire to. Crucially, we want you to spend more time shooting than troubleshooting, and this gear will help you do just that.

A wide aperture lens

Astrophotographers need a lens that gathers a lot of light. Subjects are often, to the naked eye, tiny specks of light surrounded by darkness. A fast or wide-aperture lens, such as an f/1.4 lens, is popular for astrophotography because it gathers far more light than slower, narrower-aperture lenses, which is crucial when shooting the night sky.

A wider aperture means you can use shorter exposure times. When the shutter is open for less time, star images are sharper because the complete exposure occurs before Earth's rotation causes star trailing.

High ISO settings result in image noise; wider aperture lenses (allowing for lower ISO settings) will therefore produce cleaner images. This is especially important if you are capturing faint stars. Here are a couple of fast lenses we have reviewed and recommend.

A good tripod

Tripods are essential for any kind of long-exposure shooting. Even the slightest wobble during capture will show up in your image. Camera shake is far more likely when the shutter is open for seconds rather than snapping open and closed in bright daylight.

In astrophotography, exposure times need to be much longer, even when using a fast, wide-aperture lens such as those we discussed above. A solid tripod is therefore crucial, keeping your camera completely still for the full duration of the exposure and preserving sharp detail in the stars and other celestial objects.

A Star Tracker

Star trackers compensate for Earth's rotation by slowly moving your camera in sync with the sky, keeping your subject stationary during long exposures.

This makes it possible to capture sharper stars and fainter details without trailing, even at slower shutter speeds. While there are not countless models available, there are enough variations to suit different cameras and experience levels, making it well worth exploring our dedicated best star tracker guide to find the right match for you and your setup.

Stargazing apps

Stargazing apps are the modern alternative to traditional star charts. They remove much of the guesswork from your shooting sessions, helping you point your camera exactly where it needs to be. They are also valuable learning tools away from the camera, giving you a clearer understanding of the night sky, from planets and constellations to seasonal patterns and deep-sky objects. Spend a little time exploring one, and you will quickly learn the best times and locations to shoot from, as well as what is realistically within reach of your setup.

• We've got you covered with reviews and rankings of the best telescopes, binoculars, star projectors, cameras, drones, Lego, streaming and more.

A rare six-planet parade lights up the U.K. sky in a powerful new astrophoto captured by award-winning photographer Josh Dury.

Dury captured the rare planetary alignment from the southern coast of England, showing most of the visible planets in the sky shortly after sunset at 6:35 p.m. local time on Tuesday (Feb. 24).

"As the light faded and with clear skies overhead, it was a veritable joy to witness the planetary parade of 2026. With Venus visible shortly after sunset, Mercury and Saturn soon made their presence known," Dury told Space.com in an email. "The moon and Jupiter were clearly visible, with Uranus being located near to the Pleiades star cluster (M45), and Neptune near Saturn."

The full parade includes six naked-eye planets of the seven: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. (Mars is the only one missing from the show.) Until Feb. 28, you can likely spot at least some of these planets above the horizon — but to see all, you'll likely need binoculars or a telescope, as well as an unobstructed western view. (And that's assuming the skies will be clear enough in a narrow, half-hour window.)

Dury, an experienced astrophotographer, said even he found it a challenge to capture all these planets. "The framing of the shot would prove challenging due to the scale of the parade of planets," he said, as it required him to pull out a lens to capture nearly 180 degrees of sky.

More obstacles arose as well: "The brightness of the fading twilight and the first-quarter moon also proved other hurdles. As a result, I needed the light to fade as much as possible to document and confirm the location of the fainter planets," Dury said.

Dury used an ultra-wide-angle lens to get as much of the sky as possible, showing Jupiter in the southeast at one end and Venus to the left. A Sigma 15mm diagonal fisheye lens let him capture the near 180-degree point of view. The fainter planets shine out thanks to Dury's use of a diffuse filter, the NiSi Starsoft, "to increase the surface brightness of the planets," Dury said.

Aside from the celestial views, Dury also included a telecommunication memorial in the shot. The juxtaposition of planets and telecommunications "evokes the narrative of the search for life on other planets amongst the ongoing planetary alignment," he said.

Dury enjoyed the special moment in the sky, but it also brought out some memories of another alignment last year. "Unlike the great planetary parade in 2025, Mars is now visible on the opposite side of the Sun at dawn," he said, noting that a year ago it was possible to see all seven naked-eye planets at once.

If you're looking for a telescope or binoculars to observe the planets, our guides for the best binoculars deals and the best telescope deals can help. Our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography can help you get ready to capture the next stunning skywatching event.

Selecting the right camera for astrophotography is a tale of two halves; on the one hand, it can be a minefield, and on the other, you can choose almost any camera these days, and chances are it will do a great job. The thing is, great may not be the best, so we’re going to delve into the intricacies of the main camera systems in this guide.

Astrophotography requires cameras with low read noise and strong high ISO performance, as high as ISO 6400. Modern sensors, particularly those with ISO invariance, where underexposing at base ISO and pushing shadows in post matches high-ISO in-camera results with lower noise, have revolutionized exposure flexibility for deep-sky imaging.

The camera system you choose may also need to be used with star trackers and smaller telescopes, so in the latter situation, at least, smaller APS-C and Micro Four Thirds cameras may be the best choice.

What astrophotographers need

Astrophotography requires a robust lens ecosystem featuring fast, low-distortion prime and wide zoom lenses with maximum apertures between f/1.2 and f/2.8. Primes are typically faster than zooms, but the latter still provide excellent image quality and all-important flexibility.

Fast lenses of either persuasion are essential for light gathering and sharp star rendition. This is essential for light gathering and helping to keep ISO levels low. Other useful features include low-light autofocus modes (OM System's Starry Sky AF down to -8EV, Panasonic's Starlight AF), enhanced EVF brightness modes (Nikon's Starlight View) and built-in intervalometers. A handful of cameras even have illuminated buttons, but these are few and far between.

Full-frame sensors excel at light-gathering and low noise; APS-C offers portability with reasonable performance; Micro Four Thirds maximizes portability but requires longer exposures to compensate for the narrower maximum apertures of wide-angle Micro Four Thirds lenses. As we said, it can be a minefield.

Cameras for astrophotography: Canon EOS

Canon EOS R mirrorless cameras, including the R6 Mark II, R8, R5, R5 Mark II, are perfect for astrophotography thanks to full-frame sensors that deliver excellent high-ISO performance in low-light conditions.

Useful features include bright live-view EVFs for real-time framing and precise manual focus in darkness and an electronic shutter for vibration-free exposures. A couple of models have illuminated buttons, but this is only the flagship EOS R1 and the high-performance EOS R3.

Thanks to strong ISO-invariant behavior, especially the R5/R6 series, these cameras offer effective shadow recovery, which is crucial for extracting faint deep-sky details and nightscape foregrounds without introducing excessive noise.

The discontinued EOS Ra enhanced H-alpha transmission 4× for nebula imaging, but current R-series bodies still deliver strong performance for both wide-field nightscapes and tracked deep-sky work through excellent dynamic range and noise control.

Take a look at our guide to the best Canon cameras

Read our guide to the best Canon lenses

Cameras for astrophotography: Sony

Sony mirrorless cameras such as the A7 V, A7R V, A7S III and A1 II excel at astrophotography thanks to their full-frame, back-illuminated Exmor sensors. These deliver exceptional low-light sensitivity, minimal read noise and excellent high-ISO performance, with the A7S III being the undisputed king in this area.

These impressive sensors provide superb dynamic range for extracting faint nebulae, galaxies and Milky Way details, while preserving color fidelity in the scene. Thermal noise is also managed well during longer exposures.

High-resolution models like the 61MP A7R V offer cropping capability for deep-sky imaging, while the 12MP A7S III offers extreme low-light capabilities. Sony's E-mount ecosystem features fast, well-corrected primes, including the 14mm f/1.8 GM, 20mm f/1.8 G and the 24mm f/1.4 GM, all of which deliver sharp, low-coma images. However, the 14mm shows more corner aberrations than the 20mm and 24mm lenses.

Take a look at our guide to the best Sony cameras

Read our guide to the best lenses for Sony, Canon and Sigma

Cameras for astrophotography: Nikon

Nikon full-frame Z-series cameras, including the Z6 III, Z8, Zf and Z9, are fantastic cameras on the whole. All perform incredibly well at ISO settings as high as ISO 6400-12800.

The Z6 III features a partially stacked sensor, while the Z8 and Z9 use fully stacked sensors. All models are highly ISO-invariant above ISO 800, thanks to a dual gain switch, which enables flexible shadow recovery without noise penalties. This is critical for extracting detail from faint nebulae and nightscape foregrounds.

Features, including Starlight View, which is an amplified EVF display for manual focusing and illuminated buttons on the Z8 and Z9, enhance shooting in darkness. Nikon's Z-mount provides excellent primes; the 20mm f/1.8 S is fantastic but shows visible corner coma at f/1.8, while the 14-24mm f/2.8 S delivers exceptional corner-to-edge star quality at 14mm. This makes these lenses ideal for wide-field nightscapes and Milky Way capture.

Take a look at our guide to the best Nikon cameras

Read our guide to the best Nikon lenses

Cameras for astrophotography: Fujifilm

Fujifilm cameras, whether the APS-C X-series, which is made up of models including the X-T5, X-H2 and X-H2S, or the GFX medium format series, all feature a vintage-inspired charm. They feature retro-style tactile manual controls on the outside and the latest technologies on the inside.

The X-series cameras use X-Trans sensors while the GFX series cameras use Bayer sensors. The dynamic range of the latter is impressive, while the former maintains impressive ISO handling. X-Trans sensors reduce moiré without optical low-pass filters. Film Simulations enhance in-camera JPEGs and RAW files in Lightroom with film-inspired looks, but these are largely irrelevant for astrophotography.

The GFX 100S and 100S II have high-resolution 102MP sensors for extreme cropping and large-print nightscapes. These have larger pixels than full-frame sensors, which means excellent dynamic range. GFX, as with all medium format prime lenses, aren’t as fast as APS-C or full-frame primes, so you may have to shoot at higher ISOs. However, this isn’t an issue at all thanks to strong ISO handling and the ability to capture the night sky.

Take a look at our guide to the best Fujifilm cameras

Read our guide to the best Fujifilm lenses

Cameras for astrophotography: OM-System (Olympus)

OM System (Olympus) cameras aren’t the most obvious choice for astrophotography with their small Micro Four Thirds sensors, but these compact, lightweight and weather-sealed retro-inspired cameras do have some impressive and useful astrophotography features. The 20.4MP stacked sensors manage moderate ISOs reasonably, although they’re not as good as full-frame cameras.

Models such as the OM-1 Mark II and the specialised OM-3 ASTRO are worth considering. The OM-3 ASTRO features 100% H-alpha transmission for vivid red nebulae alongside capturing stars, galaxies and nightscapes. Computational modes like Starry Sky AF (autofocus down to -8EV), Live Composite for star trails, and Night Vision mode aid in capturing the night sky.

The M.Zuiko 8mm f/1.8 Fisheye PRO offers fast light gathering with sharp corner performance, although it's said to be less sharp wide-open than other PRO lenses. With the 2x crop factor of Micro Four Thirds, this lens only comes in at an equivalent focal length of 16mm.

Take a look at our guide to the cameras for astrophotography

Read our guide to the best lenses for astrophotography

Cameras for astrophotography: Pentax

Pentax has remained stoically dedicated to DSLRs in a photography world that has ‘gone mirrorless’. Models including the K-3 Mark III, K-1 Mark II remain relevant for astrophotography thanks to the unique Astrotracer modes that use In-Body Image Stabilization to track stars.

Type 3 of this feature was introduced in 2022 and works GPS-free by calibrating from preliminary star exposures, enabling 30-second to 5-minute tracked shots depending on the focal length of the lens used. So, in a nutshell, you get in-camera star tracking without needing an external tracker.

The 26MP K-3 III delivers good high-ISO performance with excellent dynamic range, while the 36MP K-1 II offers strong shadow recovery with reasonable ISO-invariance above ISO 200. These cameras are rugged and weather-sealed, making them ideal for location-based photography. Their optical viewfinders, however, are less convenient for focusing on stars than electronic viewfinders on mirrorless cameras.

Take a look at our guide to the cameras for astrophotography

Read our guide to the best lenses for astrophotography

Cameras for astrophotography: Panasonic Lumix

Panasonic Lumix S series cameras S5II, S5IIX and the S1II have a strong video focus, but they remain perfectly usable for astrophotography. With 24MP full-frame sensors featuring dual native ISO (100/640 for stills), which significantly reduces read noise at ISO 640+, enabling cleaner high-ISO results.

This provides strong dynamic range for deep-sky shadow recovery. Phase-detection AF with Starlight View (focusing down to -9EV) aids composition and capture. There are also Micro Four Thirds Panasonic Lumix cameras, but these full-frame models offer superior low-light performance.

The L-mount alliance provides excellent fast primes, including the Sigma 14mm f/1.8, Panasonic 18mm f/1.8 and 24mm f/1.8, which are ideal for sharp wide-field Milky Way captures. Weather-sealing makes these cameras great for outdoor night work, despite the lack of astro-centric features.

Take a look at our guide to the cameras for astrophotography

Read our guide to the best lenses for astrophotography

The Fujifilm X-M5 is the lightest and smallest camera in the X-series line-up, alongside the X-T5, X-T50 and X-H2. It was released in late 2024 and is targeted towards content creators and travel users, with good hybrid capability and easy switching of film simulation styles.

With only a 26MP APS-C sensor and a lack of an electronic viewfinder (EVF), I expected the X-M5 to have weak astro performance but I was impressed with what this little camera could do. I managed to shoot a range of night sky subjects with the XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ kit lens and leveling up to XF lenses with wider apertures only allowed more stellar details in the shots. Could this be one of the best cameras for astrophotography? Or perhaps just one of the best cameras we've reviewed? Read on to find out.

Fujifilm X-M5 Review

Fujifilm X-M5: Design

★★★★★

• Vintage styling is attractive and appealing to film lovers
• 26MP APS-C image sensor not ideal for astro, but performs well
• Fully articulating rear screen is useful for awkward tripod compositions, especially without an EVF

The Fujifilm X-M5 has a wonderful vintage housing reminiscent of black and grey film cameras and cuts a small size so you can carry it wherever you go. Despite the compact body, it can be used with all of the Fujifilm XF lenses, although it does start to feel overbalanced with larger zoom models.

It has a 26 MP APS-C image sensor, which might put off some astrophotographers who prefer full-frame models, but it handled astrophotography well for a camera of its size. It only weighs in at 7.8 lbs, including battery and SD card, making it pretty light for a camera with interchangeable lenses.

This camera has a creative streak with the addition of the new film simulation dial, where you can change the film recipe depending on your photography style. While I mostly shot in Provia/Standard for astrophotography, it was fun to use this dial for different photography styles, like portrait and landscape. Shooting in these different styles doesn’t change the format, so you can either shoot the style ‘baked-in’ in JPEG format or keep it non-destructive with RAW.

The three-inch, fully articulated touch screen is handy for shooting on a tripod as you can adjust it to any working angle, something that is not available on mid-range Fujifilm models like the X-T50 and X-T5.

It has a range of onscreen touch controls like focus, zoom (with a power zoom lens) and custom functions assigned to a directional swipe. The X-M5 still has the tactile, manual controls that are classic features of any Fujifilm camera. It features a mini-joystick for menu and focus point selection, a command dial for exposure control and the mode dial for selecting shooting style. A switch lever on the shutter button made it super intuitive to turn on and off as it was right near my right index finger, although left-handed users won’t benefit.

The X-M5 is a beginner camera with a focus on creativity and content creation, with the film simulation dial, vlog mode on the mode dial and red instant video record button. While it lacks the high resolution that some intermediate photographers may want, it also stands as a great learning camera with the ability to grow with different lenses for the reasonable $899 price tag.

Fujifilm X-M5: Performance

★★★★

• Amazing astro results for a non-specialist APS-C camera
• Combined with an appropriate lens nebulas are easily imaged
• High ISO sensitivities introduced a bit too much noise, for our liking

To test this camera for astrophotography, I went to a Bortle 4 area in a field in South West England during late February with nighttime temperatures of 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius).

For a non-specialist astrophotography camera, I was amazed with the astro results I got during testing. When paired with the right lens, I managed to get some decent shots of constellations and deep-space objects.

Using the XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR II lens, I was able to get a pretty good shot of Orion’s belt with the Orion Nebula (M42) glowing purple below it. With a superfast XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR lens, I captured the Big Dipper asterism, the full constellation of Orion, Sirius and the planet Jupiter. I even captured some star clusters like the Pleiades and Beehive cluster, albeit on a wider scale but it is still impressive to see a small camera capture a faint deep space object.

A lens with a fast aperture really helped this camera perform in the astro space but it performed well with the recommended kit lens. Shooting with the XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ lens, I managed to capture Orion and Sirius in good detail. The kit lens suited the small size of the X-M5 body better than the larger XF lenses.

Whilst being able to shoot a range of night objects, the high ISO performance hindered the overall image quality. I shot around ISO 2,000-2,500 and there is a fair amount of luminance noise when zooming into dark space and plenty of color noise throughout the image too, showing up as purple, red and green dots. I pushed the ISO to 25,600 and whilst able to distinguish star patterns, the photo was very noisy and largely unusable.

Fujifilm X-M5: Functionality

★★★★

• Ideal beginner or travel camera for astrophotography
• Battery life suitable for long nighttime shoots
• Compatible with high-end XF lenses but may feel unbalanced when shooting

The best part about the X-M5 is how small and portable it is — it would make a great travel camera or a go-to option for casual shooting without having to take a heavy full-frame with you. I found myself reaching for this camera to take out for street photography more often than bigger cameras like the X-T50 or X-H2, and I wasn’t disappointed with its performance apart from a lack of an electronic viewfinder (EVF) for precise shooting.

While in theory the X-M5 is compatible even with huge XF lenses, it will probably feel unbalanced. The XF 18mm didn’t feel awkward, but with the XF 16-55mm and XF 8-16mm, it felt a bit lens-heavy. If you already own a host of larger XF lenses, you might be better off investing in a larger Fujifilm camera body.

If you are a beginner or want a smaller travel camera, the X-M5 is ideal, and the recommended kit lens, the XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ, is fantastic for getting the basics of photography down with some basic astro functionality.

The battery life has a quoted life of 330 shots in standard mode and I didn’t run out during astro shooting sessions. The battery compartment has a nice nail slide latch that opens easily, should you need to replace the battery during a shooting session.

It has a single SD card slot, mic jack, mini HDMI and USB-C port, so you get access to the major connections you would want from a camera of this size. If you are planning on utilizing the X-M5’s 6K/30p and 4K/60P video capabilities, then I would recommend at least a V30 speed class SD card.

Fujifilm X-M5: User reviews

Amazon customers like the compact size of the X-M5 while not skimping on photo performance. The film simulation dial is praised and one user mentioned using it within hours of getting the camera.

Other users praise the compact and lightweight nature of the camera and say it is ideal for vlogging, street photography and content creators. Downsides reported include the lack of an electronic viewfinder (EVF), difficult ergonomics and a screen that can be difficult to see in bright conditions.

How we tested the Fujifilm X-M5

I tested the Fujifilm X-M5 with the following lenses: Fujifilm XC 15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ lens, XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR II lens, XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR lens and Fujifilm XF 8-16mm f/2.8 R LM WR lens.

I used the camera for a range of different photography styles, including portrait, street, landscape and astrophotography. For astrophotography testing, I went to a Bortle 4 area in South West England in February 2025. The nighttime temperatures reached 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). I photographed a range of night sky objects, including the constellation Orion, the Big Dipper asterism, the Orion Nebula (M42), the Pleaides star cluster (M45), the Beehive cluster (M44) and Jupiter.

Should I buy the Fujifilm X-M5?

If you are a beginner photographer and want to get a camera that will teach you the ins and outs of photography, the X-M5 is ideal. Manual tactile controls get you used to manipulating exposure and the film simulation dial can help with your style. It will equally suit someone who wants to make a lot of video content, as it supports 6K video at 30p and 4K video at 60p. Bear in mind, you will have to make sure to buy a lens with it but this gives you the option to get new lenses as you develop your craft.

Some users may rightfully want an electronic viewfinder (EVF) for more precision during shoots and, while a lack of an EVF on this camera can be annoying for some, it helps to bring the size down. It’s a small but mighty camera that is capable of most styles of photography, as long as you like shooting via a screen.

If the Fujifilm X-M5 isn't for you

If you are looking for a compact camera that has an even bigger video focus, look at the Canon Powershot V1. It has an internal cooling fan for extended video shooting and a built-in ultra-wide lens for selfie-style vlogging. We photographed some constellations with it, too!

If you already know the photography basics and want a camera that will keep you learning as you grow, try the Fujifilm X-T50. It has an electronic viewfinder (EVF) for photography precision and has more professional photography features like a 40MP APS-C sensor and in-body image stabilization (IBIS). It also features the same Film simulation dial that is on the X-M5.

If you are put off by the fact that this camera has a crop sensor, try a full-frame camera like the Sony A7C II, which has a 33MP sensor, a compact EVF and professional features like IBIS and weather sealing.

Arguably, the second most important part of your camera setup, beyond the best camera body, is the lens. We have tested and recommend the best lenses for astrophotography, but oftentimes, for those looking for more cost-effective models, going for a third-party camera lens can save you money and they can be of comparable (if not better) quality than first-party models.

The key is knowing which ones are worth your money. That is why we have hand-picked the best third-party lenses you can buy for astrophotography in 2026.

Once you have picked out your new lens, head over to our night sky guide for an in-depth rundown of the whole month in skywatching.

The quick list

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The best third-party lenses we recommend for astrophotography in 2026

The best third-party lens overall

The Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is a standout choice for astrophotography, combining an ultra-wide 14mm field of view with genuinely impressive low-light performance. As a third-party lens, it proves just how far Sigma has pushed optical quality, offering performance that rivals, and in some cases surpasses, native alternatives at a more affordable price.

The Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is unapologetically large. It is a hefty lens, but it feels premium in every sense, especially the build quality that inspires confidence in the hand. It feels robust and purposeful, but its weight means it is not ideal for long handheld sessions; a tripod is almost essential to get the most out of this lens. The lens includes a lens cap that doubles as a filter holder, which helpfully also works with the lens hood attached.

Optically, this lens delivers where it matters. In our hands-on Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art Lens review, we found sharpness to be excellent across the frame and distortion to be impressively low, even toward the edges. The autofocus is fast and accurate, while the manual focus ring feels smooth and precise, making it particularly satisfying for fine adjustments when shooting the night sky. We found its low-light performance to be the standout area of expertise. You can push the ISO higher, but still be confident you will capture crisp images, especially important when capturing starry nightscapes.

The Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is a versatile tool. The aperture ring offers tactile, precise control with clearly defined steps, plus an auto mode and the option to de-click for video work. Because of the bulbous front element, filters can only be fitted at the rear, but Sigma's included GP-11 filter holder makes this surprisingly straightforward.

While it can handle a range of photography styles, from architecture, events and creative wide-angle work, this lens truly comes into its own under dark skies. As a third-party option, it is a compelling example of how you do not have to rely on native glass to achieve exceptional results.

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Best budget Sigma lens

This Sigma lens leaves a strong first impression. It earned a full five stars in our hands-on Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art review, and it is easy to see why. Undoubtedly, the first thing we noticed is the weight. At 2.58 lbs (1.17 kg), this lens is heavy, especially compared to many other ultra-wide options (though not the heaviest in this guide). Shooting handheld for long periods is not particularly comfortable, but it certainly feels solid in the hand, and it is clearly built to last.

For astrophotography, the weight is far less of a concern as you'll be using a tripod more often than not — stability is more important than portability.

The Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art is fully weather sealed, so damp nights, dew and unpredictable weather are not really a concern.

One limitation to be aware of is the large, rounded front element, which prevents the use of front-mounted filters. For astro shooters, this is unlikely to be a major drawback, and for other shooters, there's always another way to use a filter, with a bit of creativity or using an alternative clamping system.

Optical performance is where this lens truly shines. Chromatic aberration is very well controlled, with minimal color fringing even when shooting wide open. Distortion is also impressively low for such an ultra-wide focal length.

At its maximum f/1.8 aperture, stars remain sharp and well defined across most of the frame, which is no small achievement. Stopping down slightly can further improve corner performance, but the lens' wide open performance gives you valuable flexibility when working in low light.

Overall, the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art is a heavyweight in every sense. It is not subtle or lightweight, but it delivers exceptional image quality and reliability. For serious astrophotographers, it remains one of the best ultra-wide lenses you can buy.

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Best wide zoom

The Sigma 14–24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art carries all the hallmarks you would expect from Sigma's Art lineup. It is designed with full-frame cameras in mind, and like (most of) the other Sigma lenses we've reviewed, it feels reassuringly solid in the hand. It is made for professionals and serious shooters.

The zoom and focus rings are smooth, and autofocus is quick and near silent so you can use it without creating too much attention. Great for capturing candid shots.

When we reviewed the lens, the comparison with Sigma’s 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art was inevitable. The big difference, however, is flexibility. The 14–24mm zoom range opens up far more creative options, allowing you to move from ultra-wide vistas to tighter compositions without changing lenses. This versatility will appeal to photographers who want one lens to cover multiple bases.

The mount options are generous too; it is available for Nikon and Canon systems, and Sony users can adapt it to E-mount bodies using Sigma's MC-11 converter.

Performance is where the lens really impresses. Images are sharp and vibrant across the frame, with stars rendered cleanly and clearly when shooting at night. Chromatic aberration is extremely well controlled, even when working wide open at f/2.8. Sigma makes a bold claim that there is no image distortion, and after our hands-on review, it is hard to argue otherwise.

As a zoom lens, the Sigma 14–24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art does sacrifice some light compared to faster primes, but that is the trade-off. An f/2.8 maximum aperture is still more than capable for astrophotography, while the zoom range adds genuine practical value. Whether that balance is right for you depends on how much you value flexibility over outright speed, but as an all-around ultra-wide performer, we don't have any complaints.

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Best for aperture

The Viltrox AF 27mm f/1.2 Pro, which we reviewed recently, is an impressive prime lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras, offering a 40.5mm full-frame equivalent focal length and a hard-to-beat f/1.2 maximum aperture at a highly attractive price, making it a strong option for astrophotography and general photography without costing as much as first-party glass.

The lens is compact at 3.23 x 3.62-in / 82 x 92 mm and weighs about 565 g, so it partners well with Sony E, Nikon Z and Fujifilm X bodies.

Build quality is excellent, with a full-metal body and weather sealing, making it well-suited to outdoor use, whether shooting night skies or everyday scenes.

We found the controls to be straightforward and practical, including a large manual focus ring and a manual aperture ring that can be set to clicked or click-less operation, useful for both stills and video. It's worth noting that there is no screen like some Viltrox lenses.

The autofocus is fast, quiet and reliable, aided by a stepping motor, though some photographers still prefer manual focus for greater precision. There is no optical image stabilization, but in-body stabilization on many APS-C cameras compensates for this. The minimum focus distance is short at about 28 cm, which adds versatility even if it is not essential for astrophotographers.

We were impressed by the image quality, which was exceptionally sharp even at the widest f/1.2 aperture. Corner sharpness remained strong, and we only found minimal distortion and chromatic aberration. Vignetting is noticeable wide open at f/1.2, but all but disappears at f/2.8. Aperture settings around f/8 offer the sharpest overall results, but the standout here is reliable sharpness at f/1.2 itself, which benefits the astrophotographers amongst us.

Overall, we think the Viltrox AF 27mm f/1.2 Pro delivers excellent value, blending excellent build quality, versatile performance and a fast aperture that will appeal to astrophotographers and more general shooters alike, all at a competitive price point, and definitely much more affordable than similarly specced native lenses.

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Best telephoto lens

The Sigma 70–200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM is a fast telephoto zoom that delivers strong optical performance at a lower price than many first-party rivals, and we struggled to find much fault.

With a constant f/2.8 aperture, it suits a wide range of photography, from wildlife and sports to portraits and selected astrophotography applications. While 200mm can be challenging for night sky shooting without a star tracker, the lens is still useful for mid-field targets and creative compositions, such as the Milky Way behind an interesting foreground.

This lens sits in Sigma’s Sports line (opposed to the ART line) and feels every bit the part, with a solid metal barrel and a reassuring weight of around 1.8 kg. Weather sealing means it is suitable for use in less forgiving conditions, too.

In our hands-on Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM review, we found the image quality to be impressive throughout the zoom range. Sharpness is excellent when focus is nailed, and distortion is minimal. We found that the autofocus is fast, accurate and silent, and the stabilization system is handy for counteracting wobble when the camera isn't mounted on a tripod.

Overall, this is not the most typical or easiest lens for beginners, but it is a nice option for photographers who want a bright, versatile telephoto zoom with professional build quality and strong performance.

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Best budget overall

The Rokinon or Samyang 14mm f/2.8 is one of those lenses that quietly punches above its weight. Made in South Korea and priced firmly at the budget end of the spectrum, it still earned four out of five stars in our Rokinon/Samyang 14mm f/2.8 review. This is one of the cheapest ultra-wide options available for astrophotography, yet it delivers results that feel far more expensive than the price tag suggests.

The low cost is afforded by the simple design. Aperture control is handled via a manual ring near the lens base, and there is no electronic connection to the camera body. That means no image data is recorded with your shots, which may bother some users but will not trouble most night sky shooters. The lens is fully manual, covering both focus and aperture. For astrophotography, manual focus is standard practice anyway, so this likely won't be an issue for Space.com readers. Where it becomes less convenient is in daytime use or when photographing moving subjects, where autofocus would be most welcomed.

Despite its plastic and lightweight construction, the lens feels solid. It is highly portable and easy to use, making it a great choice for beginners. Astrophotography can be an expensive hobby — lenses like this make it more accessible.

Performance-wise, this lens won't win any awards, but it is by no means bad. When shooting at f/2.8, sharpness drops slightly, along with noticeable vignetting and distortion. The good news is that these issues are easily corrected in post-processing and do not detract much from the overall experience.

For newcomers to astrophotography, this lens makes a lot of sense. It lets you experiment and capture impressive images of the night sky without spending a huge amount of money.

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Best third-party lenses: Frequently Asked Questions

Update log

How we tested the best third-party lenses

We put every lens we recommend through a rigorous review process to ensure we provide you with honest and up-to-date advice. Our expert staff and knowledgeable freelance contributors test each lens based on a variety of factors, including its construction, ease of use, design and most importantly, optical performance.

Each lens is evaluated on its intended use and price point. We consider the lens' weight and portability, as well as its build quality and functionality.

At Space.com, we are committed to providing reliable and transparent buying advice. Our reviews and buying guides are completely editorially independent, ensuring you can trust us to provide the best possible information, whether you decide to make a purchase or not.

A cosmic rose blossoms amidst a field of stars in this deep space vista from astrophotographer Ronald Brecher, which captures the ancient light of the star-forming region as it glows in the constellation Monoceros, the "unicorn," 5,000 light-years from Earth.

The 100-light-year-wide expanse of the Rosette Nebula is estimated to have a staggering mass the equivalent to 10,000 suns and has been sculpted and eroded by the radiation from nearby stars.

Dark filaments of hydrogen gas thread the scene, blocking the light of stellar giants beyond, while the blue-white stars of the open cluster NGC 2244 can be seen carving out the vast cavity in the heart of the vast nebula flower. Some of the stars in the cluster are true behemoths, 50 times the mass of our sun.

Like old love made new, Brecher had initially captured the nebula's ancient light over the course of almost 10 hours worth of observation time back in 2021, but he recently returned to the data, reprocessing it with new techniques — and greater experience — using the astrophoto software PixInsight.

Nebulas take on radically different appearances when viewed in different wavelengths of light. The optical wavelength — which we see with the unaided eye — presents a swirling maelstrom of dust and gas, like that seen in Brecher's image, while ultraviolet and infrared observations help reveal the stars dotted within. You can explore the different aspects of the Rosette Nebula on Viewspace.org.

Want to explore the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our roundups of the best telescopes and binoculars available in 2026. Photographers may also want to peruse our picks of the best cameras and lenses for capturing the post-sunset realm.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Josh Dury captured an ethereal view of February's full Snow Moon as it rose to flood the night sky with icy light on Feb. 1

February's full moon is often called the Snow Moon — a name rooted in the heavy snowfall that's common in the Northern Hemisphere around this time of year.

Dury snapped the full snow moon during a brief break in February's stubborn cloud cover, with the delicate outlines of snowdrops silhouetted in the foreground by the moon's silvery light. Dark lunar seas are visible across the moon's ancient surface, streaked with reflective debris cast out in the creation of young impact craters.

"This was the third and final attempt in capturing the composition due to poor weather prospect," Dury explained to Space.com. "With snowdrops and the snow moon signalling the early call of nature from winter into spring, [it] is a voice from nature itself and timed around the first quarter day, Imbolc. For only moments on 1st February did the sky clear to capture this image."

Read more: February's full moon dazzles skywatchers worldwide with a glistening 'Snow Moon'

Dury captured the scene using a Sony A7S III camera with a Sigma 150-600mm Sport Telephoto Lens, stabilized on a Benro Tortoise Tripod. He then stacked separate images into a final composite that preserves sharp detail in both the silhouetted foreground and the lunar surface.

If this image inspires you to try lunar photography yourself, check out our expert guide to imaging the lunar surface, along with our our picks of the best cameras and lenses for immortalizing the post-sunset sky.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Greg Meyer has captured a magnificent view of the Flaming Star Nebula blazing in the night sky some 1,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Auriga, the Charioteer.

Meyer's image appears to show a maelstrom of fire leaping away from the colossal star AE Aurigae, whose dramatic appearance has earned it the nickname of the "flaming star". In reality, the fiery glow is caused by radiation pouring out from the energetic star, which ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas, stripping it of electrons and causing it to glow with its own light.

AE Aurigae is a so-called runaway star. Scientists think it was born in the Trapezium cluster at the heart of the Orion Nebula, before being forcefully ejected following an interaction with a binary-star system some 1.5 million years ago, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The bottom of the image is dominated by the "Tadpole Nebula" (IC410), which resembles a blue cosmic pond in the false-color image. Two tadpole-shaped columns of yellow dust and gas appear to swim towards the nebula's glowing center, sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from nearby young stars.

Meyer captured the scene in mid-January using a Radian Raptor 61 mm telescope paired with an astronomy camera and filters, plus supporting peripherals while under dark Arizona skies.

Just under 21 hours' worth of light data was collected and then compiled using a combination of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and the specialized astrophotography software PixInsight. The payoff? A sprawling nebula scene stretching light-years in diameter, revealed in extraordinary detail far beyond what the human eye can see.

Inspired to start your own astrophotography journey? Then be sure to read our guides to the best cameras and lenses for capturing the night sky. While you're at it why not also peruse our picks of the best telescopes for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

February's full "Snow Moon" has risen, dazzling stargazers with an incredible performance as it climbed over the eastern horizon below the stars of the constellation Leo to flood the night sky with its icy light.

The Snow Moon turned full in the early hours of Feb. 1, when the lunar disk sat opposite the sun in Earth's sky, fully illuminated by its light. It arrived as swathes of the U.S. returned to normalcy in the wake of a brutal winter storm — the kind for which the February moon is named — and beamed down on NASA's Artemis 2 moon rocket, as it lay dormant at Pad 39B of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Read on to see a selection of spectacular photos of the Snow Moon captured on the nights surrounding its full moon phase and be sure to look up in the coming nights. If you feel inspired to try lunar astrophotography out for yourself! The lunar disk will continue to look full over the coming days, so get out there and make use of our expert advice for capturing Earth's natural satellite.

The full Snow Moon in pictures

Our first image comes courtesy of Michael Heiman, who captured the lunar disk on Jan. 31 — the day before it turned full — as it hung above the slopes of the Italian Alps shortly before sunset. The shot was taken close to the town of Tirano in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy.

Mattia Ozbot captured a gorgeous image of the full moon rising a few hundred miles to the east from the Italian town of Cortina D'Ampezzo, as the lunar disk peeked from behind a snowy hill lined with evergreens.

Photographer Tayfun Coskun snapped this dramatic view of a passenger airline crossing the hazy full moon in the skies above San Mateo, California, soon after takeoff on Feb. 1, as the exhaust and heat plume of its engine was backlit by reflected sunlight from the lunar surface.

This next shot was captured by Greg Gage using a Nikon D5500 camera with a Meade 1000 mm telescopic lens as it loomed large over the Little Florida Mountains close to the city of Deming, New Mexico. "The skies were amazingly clear, allowing for a lot of detail. However, there was no snow in sight," Gage told Space.com in an email.

This atmospheric shot of the Snow Moon was captured by Martin Bernetti as the lunar disk climbed through the cloudy skies above Panama City.

Bernetti also took a wide-angle view of the full moon as it backlit the clouds above the metropolitan skyline of Panama City, while skyscrapers illuminated the scene with their own artificial light.

Our next image, captured by Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo, features the full moon shining over NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis 2 moon rocket, as it stood ready to carry astronauts on a roughly 10-day mission to orbit Earth's natural satellite for the first time in over five decades.

Photographer Lorenzo Di Cola positioned himself to capture the lunar disk as it rose above the domed roof of the Santa Maria della Salute Church in Venice, Italy close to sunset on Feb. 1. The moon's yellowish hue is a result of the light scattering qualities of Earth's atmosphere, which deflects the blue wavelengths of reflected sunlight while allowing redder wavelengths through as it lurks close to the horizon.

Vlasov Sulaj snapped a dramatic view of the near-full moon shining in the evening sky ahead of sunset on Jan. 31, above the dark profile of Mount Dajti close to the city of Tirana, Albania.

Our final image was captured by Mert Alper Dervis as the Snow Moon climbed over the bustling skyline of the city of Toronto in Ontario, Canada on the evening of Feb. 1, as the needle-like form of the iconic CN Tower loomed to its left.

The next full moon is the "Worm Moon", which will occur at 6:38 a.m. EST (1138 GMT) on March 3. It will also give rise to a dramatic "Blood Moon" total lunar eclipse, as Earth's shadow sweeps over the face of its natural satellite, turning it blood red as the light of every sunset and sunrise is refracted onto its surface.

Read more: March 2026 total lunar eclipse: Everything you need to know about the next 'blood moon'

Tempted to try your hand at capturing the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our roundups of the best lenses and cameras for astrophotography, along with our picks of the best astronomy smartphone apps to help you discover exactly where the moon will be on any given night.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your moon photos with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

NASA network engineer and astrophotographer Jason Livingston has captured a colorful view of the Pelican Nebula shining 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. Remarkably, he photographed the scene from his light-polluted backyard in Henderson, Nevada, just 9 miles (14 kilometers) from the Las Vegas Strip.

Livingston's cosmic vista reveals a striking section of the Pelican Nebula — named for its visual similarity to the distinctive waterbird — in magnificent detail, as it shines from behind a dark veil of molecular cloud.

Radiation from young stars is actively reshaping the nebula, which serves as a stellar nursery where future generations of stars will form. The nebula itself is far too faint to see with the naked eye, though the two brightest blue-white stars captured in Livingston's image — 57 Cygni and 56 Cygni — can be spotted from a dark sky location, shining close to Deneb, Cygnus' brightest star.

"By day, I'm a network engineer with NASA but by night my telescopes are usually working," Livingston told Space.com in an email. "I've been into astronomy since high school but only [in] the past few years [I] was able to take up the hobby again and produce images."

Livingston captured the nebula over the course of several nights in August 2025 using his Apertura CarbonStar 150 refractor telescope paired with a ZWO astronomy camera and a suite of supporting equipment.

He split his observing time across several narrowband filters, each designed to isolate specific wavelengths of light. These wavelengths are then assigned — or mapped — to visible light colors during the postprocessing stage. "I use narrowband imaging to reduce the effect of light pollution," Livingston explained. "While it gives some images a false color, the results can be striking. So, yes, light pollution does affect my imaging, but I work with what I have."

It took Livingston a grand total of 27 hours to image the Pelican Nebula as it hung in the heavily light-polluted skies close to the Las Vegas Strip. The end result is a magnificently detailed nebula vista that showcases the complex, twisting beauty of the star-forming matter threaded throughout our galaxy.

Want to take gorgeous pictures of the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our roundups detailing the best telescopes, cameras and lenses for observing and capturing the post-sunset realm.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Osama Fathi captured a gorgeous view of a bright stellar triangle sparkling astride the glowing band of the Milky Way in the clear skies above the volcanic terrain of Egypt's Black Desert.

Fathi's composite image was taken on the night of Dec. 20 2025, as the dense starfield and dark, dusty filaments of the Milky Way's galactic plane dominated the pristinely dark moonless sky. "The exceptionally low light pollution and dry atmospheric conditions of the desert allow for high contrast between the Milky Way's bright core regions and the surrounding stellar background," Fathi told Space.com in an email.

The bright star Deneb — which represents the tail of the great swan in the constellation Cygnus — is seen embedded in the ribbon of the Milky Way, with Vega, a past and future North Star, shining directly below, close to the horizon. Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, shines on the opposite side of our galaxy's glowing band, toward the left of Fathi's image.

Together, they form the Summer Triangle, one of the most recognizable stellar formations — or asterisms — in the night sky. As its name suggests, the asterism lurks relatively low on the horizon in the winter months for stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere, but rises high overhead during short summer nights.

Fathi captured the starry skyscape over the course of a 6-minute exposure using a modified Nikon Z6 camera with a Nikkor 14-24 mm lens. "Foreground features were recorded under natural starlight, preserving the desert's subtle textures without artificial illumination, emphasizing the connection between Earth's ancient geological formations and the vast structure of our galaxy," Fathi added.

Want to capture incredible photos of the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our guide detailing how to photograph the Milky Way, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you want to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Photographer Martin Giraud captured a breathtaking view of January's full "Wolf Moon" rising over the Paris skyline on the evening of Jan. 3 as it passed behind the iconic iron silhouette of the Eiffel Tower and the dome of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Giraud's composite shot presented the moon as it broke free of the horizon to track a path through the pastel-colored sunset sky, as an atmospheric effect called Rayleigh scattering bestowed its disk with a stunning orange-yellow hue. The moon's outsized profiles appear subtly warped by their proximity to the horizon and the dark silhouettes of lunar maria (seas) can be picked out darkening its surface, where ancient lava once flowed into impact basins billions of years ago.

"Before the new year, I noticed on my planning app that the first full moon of the year, also a supermoon, would align perfectly with the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré-Cœur Basilica from a spot I had previously scouted," Giraud told Space.com in an email. "Despite the cold and the snow in the morning, the weather forecast for Paris announced a completely cloudless sky, so I decided to give it a try."

Giraud used a Canon 6D camera with a Samyang telephoto lens with an ISO of 100 to snap the individual frames used in the creation of his composite photo. "This image was taken with a 150–600mm lens at 500mm," Giraud continued. "The Eiffel Tower was 6.3 km [3.9 miles] away from my position, and the Sacré-Cœur Basilica 11.1 km [6.8 miles] away, which explains why the Moon appears so large in the frame."

January's full moon is often referred to as the "Wolf Moon" which references the packs of predators that can sometimes be heard howling in the scarcity of winter. It occurred close to perigee — the point in its monthly orbit when it is closest to Earth — giving rise to an impressive supermoon, which can be up to 14% larger than the smallest moon of the year.

Feeling inspired to try your hand at astrophotography? Then be sure to read our guide bursting with handy tips on how to photograph Earth's natural satellite, along with our picks of the best cameras and lenses for capturing the majesty of the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you snap an image of the moon and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s) and comments, along with your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Greg Meyer has captured an evocative image of a shadowy nebula drifting through interstellar space, which conjures the image of a cosmic giraffe galloping through a sea of stars.

Meyer's photo reveals the smoke-like mass of LDN 1245 — a vast collection of interstellar dust known as a dark nebula. Dense, opaque knots of material inside these cold clouds absorb and scatter background starlight, blocking the glow of more distant stars in the Milky Way's spiral arms, causing them to appear as dramatic silhouettes hanging in deep space.

LDN 1245 is located in the constellation Cassiopeia. From our perspective on Earth, its tangled filaments resemble a long-necked giraffe at full sprint — an aspect which has seen it nicknamed the 'Giraffe Nebula' by some members of the astrophotography community. The cosmic herbivore has its head extended — as if in preparation to feed — towards a collection of blue-white stars visible to the upper left of Meyer's nebula vista.

Dark nebulas are notoriously challenging to capture because they emit little to no light of their own. Meyer imaged LDN 1245 as it lurked in the dark skies over the Starfront Observatory in Rockwood, Texas, gathering 25 hours of exposure time between October 2025 and January 2026.

Meyer captured the data using his Sky Watcher Esprit 120mm telescope and astronomy camera equipped with a series of red green and blue filters, before post-processing the data in PixInsight, Photoshop and Lightroom.

"Along the edges the scene shifts into faint reflection nebulosity," explained Meyer in a post on the astrophotography website Astrobin. "Here the dust becomes visible because it scatters light from nearby stars which often gives a gentle blue tone."

Want to try your hand at astrophotography? Why not check out our picks of the best cameras, lenses for imaging the majesty of the night sky, or read our roundup of the best telescopes available in 2026.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographer Joel Martin captured a gorgeous view of the Orion Nebula (M42) shining 1,500 light-years from Earth, revealing spectacular detail in the stellar nursery as it hung in the winter skies over the seaside village of Del Mar in California.

Martin's image highlights the nebula's chaotic, radiation-sculpted structure, whose cosmic dust and gas are being actively shaped by the thousands of energetic young stars that coalesced within its roiling expanse.

The Orion Nebula's core has been excavated in part by the ultraviolet light cast out by a collection of four colossal young stars known collectively as the "Trapezium", named for their resemblance to the geometric shape.

The nebula's close proximity to Earth has made it a popular target for astronomers looking to unravel the complex environment in which new stars like our sun are born. Scientists have even used powerful observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope to capture images of protoplanetary disks surrounding newborn stellar bodies, much like the one our own solar system formed from some 4.5 billion years ago.

Martin captured the nebula's light over the course of three hours in December 2025 using a 6-inch (157 mm) Newtonian reflector paired with a set of narrow-band filters, which only permitted light from specific wavelengths to be collected. "There has been a staggering amount of rain in Southern California and I had to grab the few hours of clear skies when I could, so I was battling light pollution, clouds, dew and the moon," Martin told Space.com in an email.

The light collected using each filter was then assigned its own color "channel" during the editing process using the astrophotography program PixInsight. "My personal aesthetic is to render images as close as possible to what your eyes could see if they were as sensitive as an astronomical camera," continued Martin. "Thus, I used the average OIII signal for green and blue and the sum of SII and H-alpha for red".

How to see the Orion Nebula

January is the best time of the year to see the Great Orion Nebula as it climbs high overhead in the winter sky. Look to the southeastern horizon in the hours following sunset in mid-January to find the recognizable stars of the constellation Orion. Next locate the three stars of the Orion's Belt asterism.

Look less than 5 degrees — roughly the span of your three middle fingers held at arm's length — to the lower right of the bottom most star Alnitak to find a tighter line of three stars representing "Orion's Sword". The fuzzy patch of light surrounding the middle star is Orion's Nebula, which is visible to the naked eye on clear nights.

If you're inspired to explore it yourself, check out our roundups of the best telescopes for exploring the night sky and photographers can find our top picks for the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your deep space astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s) and comments along with your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the Hubble Space Telescope transiting the sun at around 17,000 mph (27,000 kph).

Astrophotographer Efrain Morales captured the dramatic footage on Dec. 15, 2025, from the city of Aguadilla in Puerto Rico. In the video, the Hubble Space Telescope appears as a tiny, defined silhouette gliding past the sunspot known as AR4308.

The entire event lasted just 1.01 seconds, leaving Morales no margin for error.

The Hubble Space Telescope orbits at an altitude of about 340 miles (547 kilometers), completing one circuit of Earth every 95 minutes. Catching it against the sun requires not only perfect timing but also precise positioning on the ground.

Transit predictions showed that the alignment was visible within a 4.68-mile-wide (7.54 km) corridor on Earth, meaning that anyone wishing to catch the transit would have to be located at exactly the right place. Even then, the telescope took just 1.01 seconds to traverse the sun from Morales' vantage point — a fleeting encounter that could easily be missed without careful planning and high-speed imaging.

To capture this incredible footage, Morales relied on transit-prediction software to calculate the telescope's exact path across the sun, then paired that timing with a high-frame-rate imaging setup. He recorded the footage using a Lunt LS50THa solar scope, mounted on a CGX-L, alongside an ASI CMOS camera and Cemax 2x Barlows — equipment specifically designed for safe, detailed solar observations where every frame counts. (Reminder: Never observe or photograph the sun without such specialized safety gear.)

Unlike the International Space Station, which frequently steals the spotlight during solar transits thanks to its size, Hubble presents a far greater challenge. Measuring about 43 feet (13 meters) long, the iconic space telescope is roughly 10 times smaller than the ISS, making it much harder to resolve against the sun's brilliant surface.

Editor's note: If you snap an astrophoto and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The sky served up no shortage of spectacle in 2025 —from lunar liaisons, solar prominences and fleeting meteor showers, to aurora and nebula scenes that unfold on a scale almost too massive for the human mind to comprehend.

And while we experience the cosmos first through the human eye, our vision has limits. We can't zoom in on distant nebulas, see the faintest glows, or safely take in the brightest targets — and much of the electromagnetic spectrum is invisible to us entirely.

Thankfully, the Space.com community is packed with talented photographers and observers armed with sophisticated cameras, clever techniques and powerful telescopes capable of revealing the hidden majesty of the cosmos. Read on for a selection of breathtaking images captured by astrophotographers around the world and featured on Space.com throughout 2025.

10 Incredible astrophotography highlights of 2025

1. Plasma twists above the solar surface

Astrophotographer Mark Johnston captured a jaw-droppingly detailed view of hydrogen plasma suspended in the powerful magnetic field above the sun on Oct. 20 from Willow Springs, Arizona, using a TEC160FL refractor telescope fitted with specialized filters.

2. A nebula shark is spied hunting through the depths of space

Ronald Brecher, meanwhile, set his sights further afield, targeting a spectacular deep-space nebula vista in the constellation Cepheus, some 650 light-years from Earth, which happens to resemble a vast cosmic shark swimming through deep space.

3. The moon and sun meet over Stonehenge

This gorgeous composite shot detailing the phases of a partial solar eclipse unfolding above the ancient monument of Stonehenge was captured by award-winning photographer Josh Dury as the moon slid between the sun and Earth on March 29.

4. Comet Lemmon twists in the solar wind

In a year packed full of phenomenal cometary capers, astrophotographer Dan Bartlett captured a staggering image of comet C/2025 A6 (LEMMON) looking its best as it shone in the skies over June Lake, California, on Sept. 26, as its tail twisted in the relentless stream of the solar wind.

5. The northern lights from 36,000 feet

Of course, not all of the best astrophotography subjects exist beyond Earth's atmosphere. Airline pilot Matt Melnyk snapped an impressive view of the northern lights shining in the upper atmosphere from a height of 36,000 feet (11 kilometers), while shepherding a Boeing 787 from London to Calgary during a geomagnetic storm on Nov. 12.

6. A cosmic baboon rages light-years from Earth

Astrophotographer Greg Meyer captured light of a more ancient variety while imaging a nebula 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Corona Australis, which takes on the shape of a mandrill with glowing blue eyes in long-exposure photography.

7. Perseid meteors race the Milky Way

This stunning composite from Josh Dury shows shooting stars belonging to the annual Perseid meteor shower streaking towards the horizon alongside the glowing band of the Milky Way above the iconic Durdle Door rock formation in Dorset, United Kingdom.

8. An 'Elve' red halo flashes to life over the Italian Alps

Valter Binotto, meanwhile, was able to capture a split-second view of a red ring manifesting over the Italian Alps on Nov. 17. This strange phenomenon, known as an "elve", is a super-rare form of lightning that occurs in the upper atmosphere, which lasts less than a thousandth of a second and can span up to 300 miles (480 km) in diameter, according to NOAA.

9. Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) crosses the Eagle Nebula

Astronomer Daniele Gasparri seized the opportunity to image the glowing green coma and diffuse tail of comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) as it passed in front of the Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpens, the serpent on the night of Oct. 17. Look to the left of the comet to find the iconic Pillars of Creation — vast collections of dust and gas made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope — nestled beneath a population of stars close to the nebula's glowing core.

10. A blood moon over Egypt

Finally, photographer Osama Fathi captured a beautiful composite scene chronicling the rise of the Sept. 7 "Blood Moon" as it soared into the skies over the chalk formations in Egypt's White Desert, while contending with the shifting light conditions and destabilizing gusts of wind.

Feeling inspired to take the first steps on your own astrophotography journey? Then why not check out our picks of the best cameras and lenses for imaging the night sky to ensure that you're ready for 2026.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Comet C/2025 A6, better known as Comet Lemmon, was one of the latest icy visitors to swing through our neighborhood of the solar system, leaving astronomers and casual skywatchers equally delighted. For observers in Hawaii, the glow of the Milky Way didn't dim the streak of light made by this comet passing through.

What is it?

Comet Lemmon was discovered in January 2025 and made its closest approach to Earth in late October 2025. But by November 2025, when this image was taken, it had brightened to about the same apparent brightness as the planet Uranus, making it visible to the naked eye even from suburban skies.

Where is it?

This image was taken atop the volcanic peak Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Why is it amazing?

Comets are notoriously unpredictable, so Comet Lemmon's surprising visibility has felt like a bit of a cosmic bonus for Hawaiian stargazers. And this was a rare treat, as the comet won't return to Earth's skies for another 1,350 years, around the year 3375.

Framing this comet is the glow of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, which is easier to spot at higher elevations like Mauna Kea's peak, where there is less light pollution. The image gives us a souvenir from a celestial visitor that won't be back for more than a millennium.

Want to learn more?

You can learn more about comets and skywatching.

passed in front of the Eagle Nebula and the iconic Pillars of Creation, from his home in the Chilean Atacama Desert on the night of Oct. 17 earlier this year.

The deep-space vista reveals the glowing green coma of comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN), a little over a month after its closest approach to the sun on Sept. 12, as it journeyed through the stars of the constellation Serpens.

Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN)'s backdrop is dominated by the Eagle Nebula — a vast cosmic structure of dust and hydrogen-rich gas that glows with its own light, having been ionized by the radiation emitted by its population of energetic young stars.

The nebula gets its name from its resemblance to a cosmic bird of prey and is most famous for playing host to the Pillars of Creation — a collection of stunning radiation-sculpted columns made of interstellar dust and gas. The formation has been immortalized in images captured by both the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, along with countless others. Though small, the Pillars of Creation can be spotted nestled in the glowing, star-studded heart of the Eagle Nebula, to the left of C/2025 R2 (SWAN)'s glowing coma in Gasparri's image.

Gasparri captured the scene over the course of 40 X 120-second exposures using a 130 mm Newtonian reflector telescope in the skies over the Atacama Desert, close to the Chilean city of Copiapó, where he works as a professional astronomer. "It was also an amazing sight through the eyepiece, with its characteristic green coma drifting across one of the most observed nebulae in the sky," Gasparri told Space.com in an email.

C/2025 R2 (SWAN) was discovered by Ukrainian astronomer Vladimir Bezgly on Sept. 10, 2025, in data collected by the Solar and Heliospheric Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) camera on NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft. The comet is now heading out towards the far reaches of the solar system, having survived its close approach with the sun on Sept. 12 and won't return for approximately 1,400 years.

Ensure that you're prepared to view the next cometary visitor or night sky event by perusing our roundups of the best telescopes and binoculars for exploring the night sky. If you're an astrophotographer looking to upgrade your gear, then you may also want to read our picks of the top cameras and lenses for capturing the majesty of the post-sunset realm!

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

It's not easy to capture stunning space views. At least, that was the case for photographer and NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador Petr Horálek. Using a commercial camera and a wide-aperture telephoto lens, Horálek photographed the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy over three nights from Cerro Pachón in Chile, the home of Gemini South, part of the U.S. National Science Foundation's International Gemini Observatory.

The long integration time, spanning around four hours, allowed faint galactic features to emerge: the luminous central bar, wisps of star-forming regions, and the soft surrounding glow of billions of stars.

What is it?

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest and most intriguing companions. Visible primarily from the Southern Hemisphere, this dwarf galaxy hangs in the night sky as a faint, cloud-like patch, large enough to spot with the naked eye yet small compared to our own galaxy. While the Milky Way contains anywhere from 100 billion to 400 billion stars, the LMC holds roughly 20 billion, placing it among the more massive members of the Milky Way's entourage of 60+ known satellite galaxies.

Despite its size, the LMC commands cosmic attention. Classified as an irregular galaxy, it lacks the coherent spiral structure that defines the Milky Way. Its central bar appears off-center, suggesting that the LMC was likely once a barred spiral galaxy, only to have its graceful arms distorted over time by gravitational interactions. Those interactions—particularly with the Milky Way and the neighboring Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) — have pulled at its structure, warping its disk and rearranging its stars and gas.

These gravitational tugs of war may have altered the galaxy's shape, but they have also sparked another phenomenon: intense star formation.

Where is it?

This image was taken from Cerro Pachón in Chile, though the Large Magellanic Cloud is located around 160,000 light-years from Earth.

Why is it amazing?

Irregular galaxies are often fertile grounds for star birth, and the LMC is no exception. In fact, it hosts the most active star-forming region in the Local Group: the famed 30 Doradus nebula, better known as the Tarantula Nebula. This cosmic nursery contains some of the most massive and most luminous stars ever observed, forming at extraordinary rates as dense clouds of gas collapse under their own gravity.

One reason for this vibrant activity lies in the ongoing interaction between the LMC and the SMC. The LMC, being the more massive partner, has been caught in the act of "stealing" gas and stars from the SMC, an astrophysical heist that significantly reshapes both galaxies.

As material is siphoned from the SMC, it collides with the LMC's own reservoirs of gas, generating shock fronts, compressing clouds, and forming a sprawling gaseous bridge between the two galaxies. These collisions create ideal conditions for star formation, fueling both the LMC's glowing nebulae and the star-rich structures that span the intergalactic space between the clouds.

Want to learn more?

You can learn more about the Large Magellanic Cloud and stellar nurseries.

A nebula takes on the appearance of a rampaging lion in a new deep space vista captured by astrophotographer Ronald Brecher under a near-full moon from his home in Ontario, Canada, in October earlier this year.

The evocative scene captures the swirling gas of the nebula Sh2-132, known as the Lion Nebula, located around 10,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus, which you can find high above the northern horizon in the hours following sunset in November.

Within the nebula are two gigantic stars, each of which boasts a mass equivalent to 20 suns, the radiation from which has ionized and sculpted the vast cloud of interstellar dust and gas, causing it to glow with its own eerie light.

It took Brecher a little over 35 hours to capture the nebula using his Sky-Watcher Esprit 70 EDX refractor and astronomy camera, along with a host of peripherals and astronomy filters, each designed to capture a specific part of the light spectrum

Brecher used the same observational data to create two different, visually striking versions scene. For one image, he opted to use the Hubble palette in the post-processing stage, which assigned a color to each of the specific wavelength bands of light collected by the astronomy filters to recreate the iconic look of images produced by the space telescope. The Foraxx palette, meanwhile, adopts a more dynamic approach to interpreting and combining the light data, producing a richer, more dramatic color rendering

Want to capture breathtaking images of the night sky for yourself? Then be sure to check out our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography, along with our guide to capturing the night sky with a DSLR.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

It's called "The Fall of Icarus," and it is the hottest new photo (literally) from astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy.

Skydiver and friend of McCarthy, Gabe Brown, can be seen falling across the face of the sun in the new photograph, which the two built around a seemingly impossible idea around an alignment of freefall, pilot precision and high-definition solar photography.

"I didn't know if it was even possible," McCarthy said in an interview with Space.com. "There were so many factors to consider."

The concept for the photo came about after McCarthy shot the solar transit of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch using a similar hydrogen-alpha (h-alpha) filter — a wavelength that reveals the sun's chromosphere and fine magnetic structural details. McCarthy and Brown brainstormed other solar transit photo ideas during a skydiving trip, which quickly led the two to wonder if that transiting object could be a person.

The mechanics of such a shot were not a simple point-and-shoot endeavor. McCarthy said the first hurdle was understanding whether the sun's altitude would allow both the aircraft and the skydiver to intersect a telescope's field of view in a controlled way.

"Depending on how high the sun is in the sky, the dynamics of it would completely change. A plane can only transit the sun very, very briefly if it's high in the sky, just thanks to laws of physics. And if it's low in the sky, then the skydiver doesn't have enough safety margin to pull the chute. So we did some math, and we figured out there was a sweet spot in the morning where the sun was low enough that we could coordinate the aircraft, but high enough that the skydiver could still pull the chute and land safely, and also, importantly, the skydiver would be within focus."

McCarthy said that optical physics added another hard constraint. That's because the telescope's depth of field narrowed the altitudes where Brown could appear sharp in freefall.

"There's a depth of field consideration, where, if a camera is focused on infinity, there is a near focus limit where something that is closer than a couple miles away starts to get soft focus, and that's dependent on the aperture of the scope. And there's a different depth of field for every instrument used. So we had to consider all these factors when we were planning for the shot. I have to confess, Gabe did most of the math there. I did the focus calculations. He did the safety calculations, because it was his safety that was going to be on the line. So obviously he wanted to be sure that the jump would be safe."

Once the math was done, McCarthy and Brown needed to find a wide-open location with some generous airspace.

The pair chose the Willcox Playa Fly-In — an annual gathering spot for ultralight pilots on a vast dry lakebed in southeastern Arizona. The area's miles-wide, perfectly flat terrain offered a favorable environment both for Brown's dive and landing as well as the visual alignment of the aircraft to capture the shot from several miles away.

Brown made the jump from an ultralight aircraft timed to cross the sun from McCarthy's viewpoint on the desert floor, creating a silhouette that had to pass through a narrow field of view only a few arcminutes wide.

To prepare for the shoot, here's what McCarthy used to catch Brown's fall:

• Lunt 60mm h-alpha telescope with a 2.5x Powermate and an ASI 1600mm camera
• AR 127 mm doublet refractor telescope modified using a hydrogen-alpha light and a Daystar Quark chromosphere eyepiece, and an ASI 174 mm
• Sky-Watcher Esprit 150mm modified using a Lunt wedge with a Z CAM E2-S6
• Canon R5 with 800 mm lens with white light aperture filter

(You can safely take your own sun photos with our best solar viewing gear guide and picks for the best solar telescopes. Also check out our Canon EOS R5 camera review for astrophotography.)

McCarthy said the landscape itself made the attempt achievable.

"There's this dry lake bed in Willcox, Arizona that's just many, many square miles of flat land, and it's a perfect place for something like this." That openness also gave their pilot a clear line of sight to McCarthy's exact position, which he says was essential for lining up the aircraft with the sun.

"A large, open, flat area was ideal for us. It would also make spotting me easier, because in order for this to work, I've got to be on the ground a couple miles away, and the pilot would need to be able to see where I am on the ground so he can line up his shadow with me."

McCarthy said the pilot relied on reflected sunlight to steer the ultralight into alignment.

"You get this little bright spot from all the reflections scattering off the aircraft. And [the pilot] was able to see that bright spot and guide it towards my truck in the desert. Once that bright spot was lined up with me, the telescope optics would all light up like a Christmas tree because they're perfectly reflecting the sunlight back to the pilot, and that's how he would know he was close to being in alignment with the sun … From there, usually I could start seeing the Ultralight's canopy, the big parachute thing that's on top of the paramotor. So I would start to see that in the silhouette of my monitors, and be able to guide him the rest of the way."

McCarthy said they could usually tell within seconds whether a pass was workable or not. "It was very difficult to coordinate those adjustments, but once he was in front of the sun, we could usually tell right away if the shot was going to work out or not."

He concentrated the shot on a specific, highly active region of the sun, rather than the full solar disk.

"I wasn't actually looking at the full suns through most of my soaps, I was looking at a small part of it because there was this active region … in the solar chromosphere, which is when I was shooting in hydrogen alpha … I was seeing all these complicated loops, the way the spicules were behaving, you can see the sun spots, and you could even see little micro flares happening where little bright spots were showing up. And that was such an interesting feature. That was also the active region responsible for the auroras we all saw around the world a couple days or a few days ago."

To manage both the aircraft's positioning and the tight solar composition, McCarthy worked in two scales at once. He used a larger field of view to guide the pilot — a wider framing that let him track the ultralight's approach, see the canopy silhouette, and verbally guide the aircraft into position with enough margin to correct errors. But the final silhouette required him to switch into a much tighter crop centered on that active region.

McCarthy said that dual-frame workflow was the only way to get Brown to intersect the one sliver of the sun where the silhouette would land cleanly.

"I had to use a larger field of view to guide the pilot into the small field of view, and then, more importantly, make sure that when he jumped, he passed through that field of view where you can see this really tight crop around the active regions, and that's where I got that close up shot."

The wider image was later assembled into a 100-plus-tile mosaic, giving McCarthy a full-disk context image of the sun to pair with the much tighter "Fall of Icarus" shot — the one showing the full scale of the star, the other cutting down to the volatile patch where Brown's silhouette passed.

McCarthy said it took six passes over roughly an hour for the aircraft to achieve the right line, with the climb of the sun making each attempt more difficult.

"[The pilot's] passes got better and better as it went along. However, the sun was climbing in the sky, and because the sun was climbing the sky, even with his power off, when he was approaching the cameras, relative to the sun, it would look like he was rising because the glide slope of the aircraft was so flat. It made it difficult to time the shot, just because we couldn't keep him in frame for very long, but it ended up working out."

"Once he was lined up just right, I called out the command, 3, 2, 1, go! And he jumped. And it happened to be perfect. It was an incredible moment to actually capture that and see that happening live on the monitors."

Brown's silhouette cutting through the active region became the finished artwork "The Fall of Icarus."

To see more of Andrew McCarthy's amazing astrophotography, visit his website at https://cosmicbackground.io

Update for 7 pm ET: NASA revealed new images of comet 3I/ATLAS today as seen from spacecraft across the solar system. Read our wrap story and see the images and video.

Astronomer Gianluca Masi captured a spectacular image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on Nov. 19, as it raced headlong away from the sun following a close pass of our parent star on Oct. 29, an event known as perihelion.

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1 of this year and was quickly confirmed to be only the third interstellar object known to visit our solar system, after the 2017 flyby of bizarre object 1I/'Oumuamua and the more traditionally comet-like arrival of 2I/Borisov in 2019. NASA will release new images of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS that were "collected by a number of the agency's missions" during a press conference today (Nov. 19) at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), which you can watch live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA.

Masi captured 3I/ATLAS soon after it emerged from behind the glare of the sun in the weeks following perihelion, revealing a bright central nucleus surrounded by the diffuse glow of its gaseous coma. Stunning detail can also be observed in the comet's ion tail, which takes on an almost spectral, gossamer-like appearance as it is caught up and swept away by the stream of charged particles emanating from the sun, known as the solar wind.

"For me, it is particularly interesting to see how such an interstellar object evolves," Masi told Space.com in an email. "Knowing it came from so far away adds a very special flavor to the observations."

Masi's image is the result of combining 11 individual 120-second exposures taken with a 10-inch (250 mm) astrograph telescope equipped with a state-of-the-art astronomy camera located at the Virtual Telescope Project's facility in Manciano, Italy. The observations were made during a free public livestream under good atmospheric conditions as the comet travelled through the stars of the constellation Virgo in the early hours of Nov. 19 (local time).

Editor's Note: If you capture an image of 3II/ATLAS and want to share it with Space.com's readers, then please send your photos and comments along with your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.