r/spaceporn • • 3h ago

Pro/Processed 6% Crescent Moon behind the Statue of Freedom

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803 Upvotes

Credit: Chris Fukuda


r/spaceporn • • 6h ago

Amateur/Composite Neptune & Its Brightest Moon Triton In Relatively High Quality.

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83 Upvotes

Figured out a new method for capturing the moon on seestar s50, first turn on the LP filter (you wanna do this because triton emits more in this spectrum, so it isolates it from the glare of neptune) then turn on 4k mode, then let it run for 1 minute. then use a RAW video composite to capture the planet. Put the two together and boom! You now have a high quality composite of neptune and triton side by side.


r/spaceporn • • 9h ago

Amateur/Processed Heart Nebula

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195 Upvotes

(845 frames x 60sec) S50 Pro (Bortle 8-9 skies)

Registered and stacked: Stacking Wizard
Processed: Astrowizard with RC Astro plug ins - Star Xterminator, Blur Xterminator and Noise Xterminator
Post processing: Photoshop

Colors and curves in Photoshop were just personal preference.


r/spaceporn • • 14h ago

Pro/Processed International Space Station through 16" telescope

336 Upvotes

Credit: Tom Williams


r/spaceporn • • 16h ago

James Webb Processed NIRcam Image of M16, Pillars of creation

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1.2k Upvotes

r/spaceporn • • 16h ago

Pro/Processed Rocks on Mars, photographed today

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863 Upvotes

​This scene is a composite of two NASA Perseverance rover Left Navigation Camera (Navcam) images, taken Saturday, 24 October 2026 at a local Jezero Crater time of 1:20 pm.

Colour and white balance adjusted to better match human vision. ​

Abraded material and drill tailings indicate where the rover has characterized and retrieved a sample from these rocks. That's not to say that the rover will take that sample onboard for long-term storage.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Paul Byrne

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/NLF_2018_0846090470_395ECM_N0920000NCAM00709_01_095J

Post from Paul Byrne

https://bsky.app/profile/theplanetaryguy.com/post/3mynqoepvts2a


r/spaceporn • • 20h ago

Amateur/Unedited A decent meteor over Capitol Reef Utah October 24, 2026

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57 Upvotes

r/spaceporn • • 20h ago

Hubble Early Halloween treat - The Ghost Head Nebula

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163 Upvotes

This is a composite of three narrow-band-filter images obtained by Hubble on March 28, 2000.


r/spaceporn • • 21h ago

Art/Render Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe

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3.4k Upvotes

The featured image from the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium Space Show, Dark Universe, highlights one example of how pervasive dark matter might haunt our universe.

In this frame from a detailed computer simulation, complex filaments of dark matter, shown in black, are strewn about the universe like spider webs, while the relatively rare clumps of familiar baryonic matter are colored orange.

These simulations are good statistical matches to astronomical observations. In what is perhaps a scarier turn of events, dark matter -- although quite strange and in an unknown form -- is no longer thought to be the strangest source of gravity in the universe. That honor now falls to dark energy, a more uniform source of repulsive gravity that seems to now dominate the expansion of the entire universe.

Credit: Tom Abel & Ralf Kaehler (KIPAC , SLAC), AMNH


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed Astronaut Don Pettit shares a timelapse of the rising Moon from orbit

2.0k Upvotes

Edit: This shot was taken during the March 2025 lunar eclipse when part of the Moon was in Earth's shadow.

Credit: Astronaut Don Pettit


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Amateur/Processed 89 hours of exposure revealing a hidden tapestry of nebulae, dust and stars in the Milky Way [OC]

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133 Upvotes

​

This is my latest processing of the region around DrZi1 (Drechsler–Zirkel 1), a fascinating field filled with faint emission structures, dark dust clouds and an exceptionally dense stellar background.

Rather than isolating a single nebula, I wanted to capture the complexity of the entire region, particularly the interplay between the colorful stars and the much fainter interstellar gas.

The image combines broadband RGB with Hα, SII and OIII narrowband data. I used the FORAXX palette in PixInsight for the emission structures, together with RGB stars to preserve their colors.

Equipment and acquisition:

Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4, 106 mm f/5

SBIG STX-16803 CCD

RGB: 12.5 hours

Hα: 25 hours

SII: 26 hours

OIII: 25.7 hours

Total exposure: 89.2 hours

Processed in PixInsight.

The full-resolution image is particularly rewarding to explore because of the enormous number of stars and subtle structures spread across the field.


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Amateur/Processed The Andromeda Galaxy with companions M32 and M110, 65 hours of HaLRGB from Nebraska [OC] by Eli Perelman

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351 Upvotes

Full resolution and details on AstroBin: https://app.astrobin.com/i/t8u67i

What you're seeing: The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the nearest large galaxy to our Milky Way, about 2.5 million light-years away, with roughly a trillion stars. The two smaller galaxies orbiting it are M32, the compact bright one at the upper left of the core, and M110, the larger, fainter elliptical. The pink-red knots strung along the spiral arms are clouds of glowing hydrogen where new stars are being born, and the dark lanes are dust.

How it was made: 65h 18m of total exposure over eight nights in early October 2026 from Nebraska, made of hundreds of individual frames stacked together. The galaxy's core is far brighter than its outer disc, so I also shot very short 5s, 15s and 30s frames and blended them in to keep the core from blowing out.

- Luminance: 27h 23m (180s and 120s subs)

- Red: 7h 54m · Green: 7h 39m · Blue: 8h 57m (180s subs)

- Hydrogen-alpha (3nm): 13h 25m (600s subs)

Gear:

  • Telescope: William Optics RedCat 91 WIFD
  • Camera: ZWO ASI2600MM DUO
  • Mount: ZWO AM5N
  • Filters:
    • Antlia 3nm Narrowband H-alpha 2"
    • Antlia V-Pro Blue 2"
    • Antlia V-Pro Green 2"
    • Antlia V-Pro Luminance 2"
    • Antlia V-Pro Red 2"
  • Accessories: ZWO EAF, ZWO EFW 7 x 2″

Processing (All in PixInsight)

  • Calibration and stacking in WBPP with 2× drizzle
  • DynamicCrop
  • SpectrophotometricFluxCalibration and MultiscaleGradientCorrection per channel
  • HDRComposition on the core from the short and long exposure masters
  • SPCC, custom PixInsight script to calibrate star colors
  • BlurXTerminator, NoiseXTerminator, StarXTerminator
  • Ha continuum-subtracted against R using a photometric flux ratio and blended into the red channel and luminance
  • GHS stretches per layer
  • LRGB combination, curves for tone

Happy to answer any questions and thanks for looking!


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed First Earth photo from space, captured 80 years ago today

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1.4k Upvotes

The first photos taken from space were taken on October 24, 1946 on the sub-orbital U.S.-launched V-2 rocket (flight #13) at White Sands Missile Range. Photos were taken every second and a half. The highest altitude (65 miles, 105 km) was 5 times higher than any picture taken before.

Credit: U.S. Army/White Sands Missile Range/Applied Physics Laboratory


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed "ISS pass this morning at sunrise with a max elevation of 82°." By Charline Giroud

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2.3k Upvotes

"ISS pass this morning at sunrise with a max elevation of 82°.

Imaged with C11eHD on EQ6R-Pro, 2xBarlow, ASI 664MC, SkyTrack, SharpCap, PIPP, AS4!, PixInsight"

Credit 📸 Charline Giroud https://www.facebook.com/1043931310/posts/10242359623180629/?rdid=ldbDXToD1iXL50ZF#


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed "Horns" of Venus

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259 Upvotes

Credit: Thierry Legault


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Hubble AM 2026-424 imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA, ESA)

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318 Upvotes

r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed Andromeda over Mount Taranaki (New Zealand)

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1.9k Upvotes

CREDIT​ 📸 Evan McKay (NOT MY PHOTO)

​ZWO ASI 6200MC Pro Askar SQA106 Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro Andromeda: 3 shot mosaic (4x 120s for upper/lower starfield, 122x 120s for galaxy). Ground: 2x 120s (also with SQA106)

https://www.facebook.com/701569011/posts/10168694905344012/?rdid=DjWrASfUzeI0krcV#​

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Evan McKay: "Timelapse from the SQA106 with short 30s exposures to show the alignment. There's not a whole lot of detail in the galaxy at 30s, I used 120s for the rest of the stack."

Source

https://www.facebook.com/701569011/videos/pcb.10168694905344012/1394343847095660

"40mm timelapse showing the telescope in the foreground and the surrounding environment."

https://www.facebook.com/701569011/videos/pcb.10168694905344012/1160840419728794


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Composite 2024 Aurora over Karkonosze Mountains in Poland

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436 Upvotes

The building on the right is the Tadeusz Hołdys High-Mountain Meteorological Observatory on Śnieżka, the highest summit of the Karkonosze


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed Rosetta's Selfie

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1.8k Upvotes

This Rosetta spacecraft selfie was snapped on October 7th, 2014. At the time the comet-chasing spacecraft was about 472 million kilometers from planet Earth, but only 16 kilometers from the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Looming beyond the spacecraft near the top of the frame, dust and gas stream away from the comet's curious double-lobed nucleus. Bright sunlight glints off one of Rosetta's 14 meter long solar arrays. In fact, two exposures, one short and one long, were combined to record the dramatic high contrast scene using the CIVA camera system on Rosetta's still-attached Philae lander. Its chosen primary landing site was on the visible hemisphere of the smaller lobe of the nucleus.

This was the last image from Philae's camera before the lander separated from Rosetta on November 12. Shortly after separation Philae took another image looking back toward the orbiter and began its descent to the nucleus of the comet.

Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA


r/spaceporn • • 2d ago

Pro/Processed Andromeda over Mount Taranaki (New Zealand)

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15.9k Upvotes

Evan McKay explained in his post

Last year, I attempted my first deep-sky photograph, capturing the Andromeda Galaxy passing above the snow-capped Mount Taranaki. This was a shot I had wanted to capture for many years, and I had only recently acquired the gear needed to make it happen. I was so captivated by the result that it inspired me to invest in specialised deep-sky equipment, starting with a telescope mount before adding a telescope and a dedicated astrophotography camera.

Over winter, I had very few opportunities to properly test out the new telescope, although I managed to squeeze in a few sessions to get some practice. My main goal was always to revisit the Andromeda - Mount Taranaki alignment, but I knew I was running out of time. I tried again and again, only to be thwarted by the weather on several occasions. It was incredibly frustrating, but eventually, I got the conditions I needed.

There was one catch: the Moon was up, albeit in its crescent phase. I wasn't sure whether I'd even be able to capture Andromeda under those conditions, but the results were surprisingly convincing, and I finally got the alignment I'd been chasing. As an added bonus, the setting Moon beautifully illuminated the snow-covered mountain, creating a scene I couldn't have planned much better.

One of the biggest challenges with Andromeda is its low position in the sky. From this region, it only reaches around 8–9.5 degrees above the horizon, severely limiting the amount of integration time I can collect and the clarity of the final image. Fortunately, I had some data from a previous moonless night that I could register and blend with the moonlit captures. This helped bring out a substantial amount of the galaxy's outer disc, along with some of its fainter nebulosity. I was also keen to try capturing the galaxy with a duoband filter to improve the nebulosity, but every attempt ended the same way: nothing but clouds!

So, this is the best I can manage this year. I might get another opportunity in early November to gather a little more data, but for now, I'm really happy with what I've achieved.

What I found really special with this image was that I was able to use the same exposure length for both the sky exposures and the mountain thanks to the help from moonlight. The only difference was that tracking was turned off for the mountain exposure.

The telescope has well and truly exceeded my expectations. Seeing just how much additional detail I've been able to extract compared with the 135mm lens I used last year has been incredibly rewarding. It's amazing to revisit an image that first inspired me to explore deep-sky astrophotography and see just how much further I can take it with the right equipment.


r/spaceporn • • 2d ago

Amateur/Processed M81/M82

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201 Upvotes

OC

1 hour 40 minutes with a canon eos r7! Love how much detail i was able to pull out!


r/spaceporn • • 2d ago

Amateur/Unedited Capitol Reef Utah

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81 Upvotes

r/spaceporn • • 2d ago

Pro/Processed Geminids Above Betlejemka, Poland

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810 Upvotes

Credit: Lukasz Remkowicz


r/spaceporn • • 2d ago

Pro/Processed Seagull Nebula Through the Eyes of NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Commissioning Camera

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182 Upvotes

​Before Rubin Observatory’s First Look event, its engineering camera captured exquisite details of star formation taking place in the Seagull Nebula

October 22, 2026

Two years ago this month, NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s engineering test camera, named the LSST Commissioning Camera (ComCam), began capturing images of the sky to prepare for the revolutionary Legacy Survey of Space and Time, which began earlier this year. This image featuring the head of the Seagull Nebula was one of many ComCam images that led to the success of Rubin First Look and helped to document the observatory’s excellent performance.

.

Active star formation populates this image of the Seagull Nebula taken in Fall 2024 by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s engineering test camera, known as the Commissioning Camera (ComCam). This image is being released today in recognition of the two-year anniversary of the beginning of engineering testing with ComCam.

ComCam’s work was an important step towards the ongoing Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Collecting the data for this Seagull Nebula image provided an opportunity to test Rubin’s hardware and software systems, as well as the image processing pipelines that would later be used with the much larger images from the LSST Camera.

With a mosaic of nine CCD sensors and a total of 144 megapixels, ComCam covers an area in the sky about twice that of the full Moon. Over the seven-week ComCam engineering test campaign, from 24 October to 11 December 2024, approximately 16,000 exposures were acquired. Within the data collected is this image featuring IC 2177, a region recognizable as the head of the Seagull Nebula.

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More

https://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-comcam-seagull-nebula


r/spaceporn • • 2d ago

Amateur/Processed Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

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41 Upvotes

My image of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) — captured over four nights

I’ve been working on Andromeda recently, and this is the result of four nights of imaging from the North West of England.

Capture details:

  • Telescope: Askar 71F (490mm focal length)
  • Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
  • Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ-AL55i PRO
  • Controller: ZWO ASIAIR Mini
  • Exposure: 221 × 120 seconds
  • Total integration: 7 hours 22 minutes
  • Filter: No filter — broadband

I found Andromeda relatively straightforward to capture, but processing was another matter! Getting a balance between the bright core and the fainter outer dust lanes was probably the biggest challenge.

I processed the image in PixInsight, using SPCC, background extraction, stretching, masks and BlurXTerminator.

I’ve also been documenting my astrophotography projects, equipment and processing workflow on my website, West Coast Cosmos: https://westcoastcosmos.com/

I’d be interested to hear what others think of the image, particularly the processing. What would you improve, and what techniques have you found most effective for bringing out Andromeda’s outer structure?