Collected by lightstalking
Backyard astronomy photography is probably one of the most difficult types of photography that can be undertaken by the amateur photographer. It is also one of the most equipment intensive and expensive types of photography.
Luckily for us, some amateur photographers still take the time to equip and train themselves and so are able to show us remarkable work like the astronomy photos below. But it is not an easy thing to do this type of photography. In fact a quick look at the Flickr pools available to photographers of astronomical images quickly shows that this niche requires a lot of dedication and practice – not many images turn out as well as those below!
Below we have found 13 stunning examples of astrophotography (astronomy photos) taken by backyard astronomers – of stars and galaxies, that we think are some of the most beautiful examples of what can be done with a telescope, camera and some know-how from anyone’s backyard. Please feel free to link to any other examples of great backyard astronomy photography in the comments.
[The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae. Taken with a SBIG ST-L-4K 3 CCD Camera.]
[The Andromeda Nebula. Taken with a Canon EOS 20da]
[The Heart Nebula. Taken on a Canon 400d]
[The Horsehead Nubula. Taken on a Canon 350D]
[Orion_01-09C-1. Taken on a Canon EOS 30D]
[The Great Orion Nebula (M42). Taken with a Pentax K200D]
[The Great Orion Nebula. Taken with a Pentax *ist DL DSLR.]
[The Rosetta Nebula. Taken with a Canon 350D]
[The Jellyfish Nebula. Taken with a SBIG STL-4020M]
[The Sculptor Galaxy. Take with a Canon 400D]
[The Pinwheel Galaxy. Taken on a CGE1100 telescope equipped with Hyperstar (F/2) with an Orion DSCI II Imager]
[The Triffid Nebula. Taken on a CGE1100 telescope equipped with Hyperstar (F/2) with an Orion DSCI II Imager]
[The Andromeda Galaxy. Taken with a SBIG ST-L-4K 3 CCD Camera]
Other Astronomy Image Photography Resources:
A. MAZE. ING.
I thought that I would be looking at some neat photos looking up at the night sky, not deep-space photos. These are fantastic!
these are just awesome.
Yes these astronomy photos are very beautiful. How exactly are they taken with simple photo cameras?
Wow; these images are fantastic, more technicals on how they were made would be nice. Congatulations to all the photographers involved.
Faaakeeeeee. Regular Canon cameras cannot focus on a distance that extreme. Also, I found a couple of these photos in the Hubble space telescope archives. Fail.
@ Doo Doo master:
These are not faked photos. You are correct in stating that a regular Cannon camera could not focus at such a distance. However, f you read carefully, the article states:
“Below we have found 13 stunning examples of astrophotography (astronomy photos) taken by backyard astronomers – of stars and galaxies, that we think are some of the most beautiful examples of what can be done with A TELESCOPE, camera and some know-how from anyoneโs backyard.”
As to your statement that you found some of these photos in Hubble archives, that is not impossible. Please realize that many stars, systems, nebulae, etc. are photographed numerous times by numerous groups, and it is more than likely that the folks who took these photos wanted to photograph an “item” in space because it is one that they know about and have seen (perhaps even seen within the Hubble archives!) We can only see these “items” from one perspective/point of view, so most photos of the same item look very similar.
Yes, there are many photos on the web that are miscredited, or photoshopped, but it doesn’t mean that all of them are. Take a moment to think a little longer to determine if what you’re seeing could be correct. Try to keep your cynicism in check.
kat > doo doo master. Points are well made, and accepted by the peanut gallery as correct.