Today's Sun 🌞 with a closeup of its sun spots. Taken from my front driveway on a rare sunny day in Ireland. #Sun #SolarActivity #Solarphotography

Last night's first quarter Moon, imaged from my suburban back garden before I went looking for Deep Space Objects to capture. I can't wait for humans to land on the Moon again in 2028. Go Artemis IV! #Moon #Lunar #LunarPhotography

Astrometry for my M35 image.

M35 with the compact background cluster NGC 2158, captured with my Seestar S30 smart telescope. 60 minutes total integration (10s subs, EQ mode) reveals a dense stellar field with natural color variation. @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar #opencluster

Tonight's waxing crescent Moon.

M42 (Orion Nebula) captured with a Seestar S30. ~1 hour total integration from 10s sub-exposures. Short subs preserve core detail while stacking reveals faint outer nebulosity. Emission from ionized hydrogen (Hα) and oxygen (OIII) traces active star formation. False color palette. #Astrophotography

Astrometry from my M101 image. It's a busy part of the sky!

M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) Seestar S30 (EQ mode) 70 min integration | 60s subs Face-on spiral ~21 million light years distant in Ursa Major. #Astrophotography #M101 #DeepSky #Space

Happy International Day of Human Space Flight to all my fellow Space nerds!

My second image published in the April 2026 issue of Astronomy Ireland 🌌 Aurora Borealis over Newbridge, Co. Kildare Captured Jan 19, 2026 at 21:53 — Orion watching overhead. Ireland under northern lights… still doesn’t feel real. #Astronomy #Aurora #Ireland #Astrophotography

Just got published in Astronomy Ireland magazine 🚀 My image of the Pac-Man Nebula (NGC 281), captured with a Seestar S30 — 64 mins of data bringing out those deep H-alpha reds. Seeing it in print hits different. Backyard astronomy lives on 🌌 #astrophotography #space #NGC281

Tonight's nearly full moon as the crew of Artemis 2 prepare for lift off! Godspeed!

Astrometry for my image of M97.

Seestar S30 observation of planetary nebula M97. ~60 min integration resolves OIII-dominated inner shell (teal) with surrounding Hα emission. Processing kept conservative to preserve photometric integrity and faint structure.

At the vernal equinox, Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun, placing it over the celestial equator. Day and night are nearly equal worldwide. From Ireland, winter constellations set as spring rises. Happy Vernal Equinox 2026! #equinox

Lots of interesting astrometry in my image of the Monkey Head Nebula. It's amazing what one can capture from one's suburban back garden.

NGC 2175, an H II emission region, shows ionized hydrogen shaped by radiation from embedded young stars. This broadband view resolves diffuse structure and stellar content within a dense Galactic field, captured with a Seestar S30. #astrophotography #astronomy #deepsky #seestar #emissionnebula

Leo Triplet (M65, M66, and NGC 3628) captured with a Seestar S30. This wide-field view shows the contrasting structures of two bright spiral galaxies and the edge-on dust lane of NGC 3628 within a dense background star field. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #galaxies #seestar

Castor (α Geminorum), ~51 light-years away in Gemini. What appears to be one star is actually a hierarchical sextuple system: three gravitationally bound binary pairs. The two brightest A-type stars orbit each other every ~467 years. #astrophotography

Out doing what I love, capturing the beauty of the cosmos #astrophotography

I might actually get the chance to do so imaging tonight!

Thin waxing crescent Moon captured with a Seestar S30. Low solar incidence along the terminator enhances crater rims and highland relief through elongated shadow contrast. Subtle Earthshine is visible on the night side, caused by sunlight reflected from Earth.

Astrometry for my Whirlpool galaxy image. 👍🏻🔭

February 15, 1564 — the birth of Galileo Galilei. He lifted a telescope to the night sky and changed humanity’s understanding of the cosmos forever. Every deep-sky image we capture today echoes that first act of wonder. Look up tonight and celebrate the curiosity that started it all.

The beginning of astrophotography.

‘Save the best for last 😋’, a little rocky planet discovered by our #ESACheops might think – born later than its gaseous sibling-planets, it might flip our understanding of how planets form upside down. Our full story 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭🧪 #exoplanets #milkyway #planetsci

M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) and NGC 5195 — 9.35 hours of 1-minute subs with a Seestar S30. Extended integration reveals spiral arm structure, HII regions, and the faint tidal bridge between the interacting pair, set in a dense Milky Way star field. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar

Messier 52 (NGC 7654) is a young open cluster in Cassiopeia, ~5,000 light-years away. Roughly 15–20 light-years across, it contains hundreds of stars, including hot B-type members. Captured with 20-second sub-exposures, 73 minutes total integration using a Seestar S30. #astrophotography #astronomy

Out under clear skies, imaging the cosmos.

Starless view of IC 63 highlighting the hydrogen emission arc and faint surrounding structure. With the stellar field removed, the delicate shape and internal density variations stand out more clearly in this Seestar S30 capture. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar #nebula #emissionnebula

IC 63 captured with a Seestar S30 using dual-band narrowband filter. Teal–gold color mapping enhances hydrogen emission excited by Gamma Cassiopeiae, tracing how stellar radiation sculpts the surrounding interstellar medium.

IC 63 (the Ghost of Cassiopeia) captured with a Seestar S30. Faint broadband emission shaped by the nearby star Gamma Cassiopeiae, processed conservatively to preserve natural color, star field balance, and real signal near the noise floor. #astrophotography #deepsky @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

I'm out chasing a ghost tonight. IC 63, the Ghost of Cassiopeia Nebula. Wish me luck!

Pseudo–Hubble palette view of Orion’s Belt, captured in EQ mode with a Seestar S30. 77 minutes total integration using 10-second subs in mosaic mode, bringing out emission and reflection structure across a wide field. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar #nebula

It looks like I may get clear skies for a few hours this evening. I hope to continue my exploration of DSOs in Cassiopeia.

Re-edit of my recent capture of NGC 457 (the Owl Cluster), an open cluster in Cassiopeia. Captured with my Seestar. Reduced background stars to emphasise structure, with enhanced stellar colours showing temperature differences among cluster members. #Astrophotography #NGC457 #OpenCluster #Seestar

Astrometry for my image of the Owl Cluster.

NGC 457, the Owl Cluster, captured with a Seestar S30. A rich open cluster in Cassiopeia, with warm yellow giants standing out against a dense field of cooler stars. Processed conservatively to preserve natural star colors and structure. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

Astrometry for my image of the Bubble Nebula.

NGC 7635 (the Bubble Nebula) captured with a Seestar S30. About 45 minutes total integration using 10-second subs. Processed conservatively with a restrained, symbolic HOO-style color to highlight the surrounding emission while keeping a natural look. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

It looks like I'll finally be able to hunt some photons tonight 🔭 ✨

15 days and counting of non-stop clouds and rain in my corner of Ireland.

A close-up image of Tycho crater in the Moon’s southern highlands taken this evening. The rough ejecta and densely cratered terrain surrounding this young impact site are visible. #astrophotography #astronomy #moon #lunarphotography

Tonight’s Moon, showing strong relief along the terminator as sunlight skims the cratered highlands and smoother maria. Subtle tonal differences come through nicely against the dark sky. #astrophotography #astronomy #moon #lunarphotography #nightsky

Messier 34 (M34), artistically rendered from a Seestar S30 capture. The sky has been deepened to push contrast, letting cool blue stars and warmer orange members stand out across the field, giving the open cluster a more dramatic, cinematic feel. #astrophotography

Astrometry for my image of M34.

M34, a loose open star cluster in Perseus, captured with a Seestar S30. Bright blue-white stars dominate the core, with warmer yellow and orange members scattered across a dense Milky Way background, showing clear color and brightness diversity. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

Send your name around the moon in Artemis II. www3.nasa.gov/send-your-na...

🔭 Want to help explore the Universe? Join NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory on @zooniverse.bsky.social! You can dive into real Rubin data, help classify objects, and be part of new discoveries from your own screen. 🌌✨ 🔗: zooniverse.org/rubin