THE Messier Cluster? I like it.

I propose Globby McGlobface. My son thinks we should name it The Poof Cluster, and my daughter thinks The Raindrop Cluster is fitting. They’re much better at this than I am…

📷 Sony a7 IV, Z61 II, 2 hours.

A wide-field astrophotography image of the globular cluster Messier 3. The cluster is a dense, spherical concentration of thousands of stars with a brilliant, glowing white core at the center. Individual stars radiate outward, fading into the deep black of space. The surrounding field contains scattered stars in various colors, some exhibiting thin diffraction spikes.

Messier 3. A globular cluster containing about 500,000 stars. It doesn’t have a cool “common name” and I find that sad.

That means we get to name it, right? Submissions are open until May 8th. I’ll publish the best one in my very unscientific journal.

#Astrophotography #Space #Astronomy 🔭

Excellent shot! Any tips for finding it? I’m hoping to catch it in the next few days.

Normalize not slamming your hotel room door.

Diffraction Distraction I explore how to get cool star diffraction spikes in my backyard astrophotography.

For the first time in forever, I wrote something on my website: Messing around with star spikes in my space photos.

tylermartin.dev/diffraction-...

#astrophotography

A telescope on a tripod is silhouetted against a starry night sky, with scattered stars visible in the background. Black trees are faintly outlined near the telescope.

I love a clear night.

Only about an hour of integration time so far. I’m hoping to get some more tonight, weather permitting!

A deep-space photograph of the Centaurus A galaxy (NGC 5128) against a dense backdrop of distant stars. The galaxy appears as a glowing, elliptical orb of light bisected by a thick, chaotic dark dust lane that twists across its center. Faint, reddish star-forming regions are visible within the dust, and a subtle, hazy outer halo extends into the dark void of space.

A test shot of Centaurus A (Caldwell 77). A big, bright, weird galaxy that is usually better suited for southern hemisphere viewing but I’m far enough south here to catch it low in the sky in April/May.

#Astrophotography #Space 🔭

Don’t mind me. Just staying up late to catch a glimpse of Centaurus A and Omega Centauri from the northern hemisphere.

I saw them. Now I sleep. Good night. 🔭

That is absurdly beautiful.

This also pushed my editing skills to their limit. You can expose for the moon, or the clouds, but not both. So, this is a composite of two photos taken back-to-back.

A high-contrast composite photograph of a nearly full moon centered in a dark, atmospheric sky. The moon is sharp and detailed, revealing prominent craters and lunar mares in shades of silver and grey. It is surrounded by a soft, luminous white glow that fades into layers of wispy, dark brown and charcoal clouds. At the very bottom of the frame, a thin line of low-lying, dark blue clouds sits against the black horizon, creating a sense of depth and scale.

The moon is a fun target to test my new refractor (ZenithStar 61) on while I wait for clearer and darker skies.

Just aiming this thing is tricky compared to the ball head I used with my 135mm.

#Astrophotography #Photography #Moon

Earth as seen from the Orion capsule. It is divided sharply in half, with a line running diagonally from the 11 o'clock to the 4 o'clock. The lower left half is a bright pale blue. Its surface is covered with swirly, puffy white clouds, with texture indicating different thicknesses. The upper right half is dark, with no illumination from the Sun. Earth is set against the black of space. Credit: NASA/Reid Weisman

Earth as seen from the Orion capsule. It is divided sharply in half, with a line running diagonally from the 11 o'clock to the 4 o'clock. The lower left half is a bright pale blue. Its surface is covered with swirly, puffy white clouds, with texture indicating different thicknesses. The upper right half is dark, with no illumination from the Sun. Earth is set against the black of space. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

One-third of Earth peeking through the window of the Orion capsule. The planet is a dreamy pale blue, swirling with white clouds and reflected sunlight. Although Earth only fills a fraction of the image it is the brightest object in the image by far. The capsule window is surrounded by a thick frame held in place with bolts, reminiscent of a heavy duty airplane window. It is dark in the capsule, but the outlines of straps and various components of the capsule are visible. Brighter white components are visible in the upper right corner. Credit: NASA/Reid Weisman

A full disk image of Earth, as seen from the Orion capsule. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. From about 8 to 9 o'clock, a large brown landmass is Africa, with the Iberian peninsula twinkling with lights just where the planet curves. At the 1 o'clock spot, aurora glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

the images of earth from artemis ii are absolutely gorgeous

A moonrise over a mountain range, with the moon partially obscured by the horizon, casting a warm pinkish glow against a gradient purple sky.

A close-up view of the moon, partially obscured by a dark mountain silhouette with tree outlines at the bottom. The surface details and craters of the moon are clearly visible against a black background.

Last night’s “Pink Moon,” which is apparently just what we call a full moon in April. It wasn’t actually pink, but through the magic of editing I have delivered on the promise.

It’s rising over the Rincon Mountains in Tucson.

#AstroPhotography #Photography #Moon

Swapping forums for Discord is one of the dumbest things we’ve ever done as a species.

Never give up! Trust your instincts!

A wide-field astrophotography image showing the Leo Triplet galaxies against a vast, dark sky filled with stars. At the top center, the bright blue-white star Chertan (Theta Leonis) shines with prominent X-shaped diffraction spikes. In the lower-center, three distinct galaxies are visible: M65 and M66 appear as glowing, angled spirals, while NGC 3628 (The Hamburger Galaxy) is seen edge-on with a thick dust lane and a very faint, wispy tidal tail stretching into the void.

The Leo Triplet:

M65
M66
NGC 3628 - The Hamburger Galaxy. Look closely and you can see its tidal tail: a trail of stars and gas extending into space as a result of gravitational forces from nearby galaxies.

About 5 hours of integration at 135mm.

#Astrophotography #Space #Science #SonyAlpha 🔭

Excellent shot. One of the prettiest galaxies, imo.

Life long interesting in astronomy. Now exploring the skies from my backyard and sharing what I find.

yes

@bot.astronomy.blue signup

Another star field shot containing even more galaxies. The most striking is a blue-colored barred-spiral galaxy nickamed "The Lost Galaxy".

Bonus if you got this far. These didn't make the original crop but were part of the same image:

The Butterfly Galaxies are undergoing a collision event. In just 500 million years, they will become a single galaxy.

At the center of the picture is a group of galaxies referred to as Markarian's Chain containing The Eyes, M86, M84, and more.

M100 and M99 are two grand design spiral galaxies and were two of the first spiral galaxies ever observed.

M90 is a spiral galaxy that is moving so fast that it should eventually escape the Virgo cluster. In this process, it is losing gas and will eventually become a lenticular galaxy.

There are estimated to be about 2,000 galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. Some fun facts:

M87 is an absolute unit of an elliptical galaxy. Its supermassive black hole center was photographed by the Event Horizon Telescope a few years ago.

A wide field astrophotography shot of a starfield with a dark background. There are various glowing "smudges". On closer inspection, these smudges resemble galaxies of various sizes and shape. Some look like spirals, some are orange in hue, some are blue.

The same wide field shot as the other picture on this post, but many of the galaxies are circled with labels: M90, M91, M88, M87, Butterfly Galaxies, Mirror Galaxy, The Eyes, Silver Streak Galaxy, Coma Pinwheel, NGC 4473, NGC 4302, and NGC 4298

My first galaxy season with a tracker and lens longer than 50mm. 🔭

This unassuming wide field shot gets more interesting the longer you look. This is Markarian’s Chain. Part of the Virgo Cluster. ~55 million light years from us.

#Astronomy #Astrophotography #Spacesky

More details 🧵:

A crescent moon is visible against a deep blue sky with wispy pink clouds. The moon resembles the grin of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

A Grin Without a Cat

#Moon #Photography #Spaceky #PhotoSky