astrophotography Archives

November 14, 2024November 14, 2024 by Nancy Atkinson

Our Breathtaking Cosmos: New Zealand Astrophotography Winners Announced

Overall "Trophy Winner," "Sky Fire" by Tom Rae. Credit and copyright: Tom Rae and the NZ Astrophotography Competition.

The New Zealand Astrophotography Competition showcases and recognizes some of the most stunning images of the southern hemisphere’s night sky. This year, photographers from across New Zealand have captured some incredibly breathtaking skyscapes such as amazing auroras, stunning images of our Solar System, and deep-sky marvels.

Universe Today was proud to be part of this year’s competition, as our own Fraser Cain was one of the judges.

The overall winner in the competition is a gorgeous view of the Aurora Australis, above, by photographer Tom Rae. Rae said he captured this image during the “once in a lifetime” geomagnetic storm in May of 2024, showing the Milky Way arching over the dramatic landscape of Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. This image also won the “Aurora” category.

October 18, 2024October 19, 2024 by David Dickinson

Review: Unistellar’s New Odyssey Pro Smart Telescope

Unistellar’s new Odyssey Pro telescope offers access to deep-sky astrophotography in a small portable package.

Access to the night sky has never been simpler. The last half decade has seen a revolution in backyard astronomy, as ‘smartscopes’—telescopes controlled by smartphone applications—have come to the fore. These offer an easy entry into basic deep sky astrophotography even from bright urban skies, albeit at a higher price point versus traditional telescopes on the market. We’ve reviewed units from Vaonis and Unistellar before, as well as wrote commentary on the rise of the whole smartscope movement. Now, Unistellar has a new entry on the market in 2024: the Odyssey Pro.

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023 by Laurence Tognetti

Watch a Dramatic Tornado Rise from the Surface of the Sun, Captured by Andrew McCarthy

A 140 megapixel image of the Sun with a tornado-like prominence in the upper right portion and the whisps of the solar corona. Data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and an image from Jason Guenzel of the 2017 total solar eclipse were combined to form this image. (Credit: Andrew McCarthy & Jason Guenzel)

Amateur astrophotography is becoming increasingly popular among the astronomy community, as advancements in telescope and camera technologies allow individuals from all walks of life to observe the heavens in mind-blowing detail, including our own Sun, albeit with the proper protective equipment. This was recently demonstrated by Andrew McCarthy (Twitter @AJamesMcCarthy), who owns and operates Cosmic Background Studios, and is originally from Northern California but currently resides in Florence, Arizona.

December 13, 2021December 13, 2021 by Nancy Atkinson

This Incredible Photo of the Sun is Made up of 150,000 Individual Photographs

A 300 megapixel photo of our Sun, taken by using a specially modified telescope, compiling over 150,000 individual images. Credit and copyright: Andrew McCarthy.

You’re looking at a 300-megapixel photo of our Sun. Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy used a specially modified telescope, taking over 150,000 individual photos and combing them into this magnificent image.

“It took about 10 hours to stack all the data, and another 3-4 hours to get it from a raw stack to the final image,” McCarthy said via email.

May 28, 2021May 28, 2021 by Andy Tomaswick

Dunes Trapped in a Crater on Mars Form This Interesting Pattern

Symmetry in nature is pleasing to look at, and even more so when that symmetry is novel. There’s plenty of it to see on Earth, as biological processes have a penchant for patterns. But finding it off-world is trickier, and sometimes more striking. Which is why a picture from HiRISE of some Martian dunes is so spectacular.

September 14, 2020September 14, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

A beautiful picture of Saturn’s heavily-cratered moon Mimas, processed by @kevinmgill

Mimas, as imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft and processed by @kevinmgill

The Cassini mission to Saturn took many images of Mimas, one of the smallest moons in the solar system. And now you can view it in all its icy, cratered glory, thanks to the work of Kevin Gill.

July 31, 2020July 31, 2020 by Andy Tomaswick

This Is Fascinating. An Image of a Galaxy’s Magnetic Field

There’s always more than one way to look at the world. There’s also more than one way to look at a galaxy. And sometimes combining those ways of looking can result in something truly special.

That is what happened recently when a team of astronomers from seven different universities in four different countries used three different telescopes to produce an absolutely spectacular image of a galaxy and its surrounding magnetic field.

July 4, 2020July 4, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson