Astrophotography is like cooking your own meal when the place next door does it better. ✨🔭😋

Three landmarks carry the constellation Perseus: Mirfak, a yellow supergiant ~510 ly out; Algol,the Demon Star, winking from 2.1 to 3.4 mag every 2d 20h; and the Double Cluster at ~7,500 ly. A jet aimed at the nearest of them would have left in the age of the dinosaurs to arrive now.📷: @xipteras.org

🐘 The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus: twenty light-years of cold hydrogen, lit and slowly eaten by one hot O-star — and still cradling newborn stars behind its bright rim. Shot in Hα from my rooftop in Germany. The light left before Homer was ever written down. #ElephantsTrunk #astrophotography

Tonight at dusk, low in the west: Jupiter and Venus closing in, Castor and Pollux just above. Their tightest pairing until 2028, afaik. CS #planets -- Image by @xipteras.org , Sony A7V camera, Sony 85mm 1.4 GMII lens at f/1.4, 1/250s, ISO 1250, denoised, taken handheld.

☀️🌲🇩🇪 #landscapephoto

Alpha UMi ⭐️ #stars

The Elefant Trunk #nebulae #spacephoto by @xipteras.org

Freckles! 😁 Cycle 25 is past its peak, but the Sun’s face is still busy with spots today. Summer. ☀️7.6.2026 CS /px #SolarPhotography

Tonight at dusk, low in the west: Jupiter and Venus closing in, Castor and Pollux just above. Their tightest pairing until 2028. CS @xipteras.org #planets

Venus in Gemini. 🦋♊️ #nightsky

The Pinwheel Galaxy 🌌 M101

🏛️ In the Hellenic mythology, Gemini represents Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux), the Dioscuri. Though brothers, they had different fathers: Polydeuces was the immortal son of Zeus, while Castor was the mortal son of King Tyndareus. ✨ #mythology #Stargazing #Astrophotography

The Sun ☀️ 5.6.2026 #solarphotography

Let's go deeper!🌀 #quasars "near" #Messier106 📷: Image by @xipteras.org Takahashi TOA-130 telescope, QHY8L CCD camera. -- See more quasars at: www.albireo.at/Astronomy/M1...

🌀Messier 106 sits in Canes Venatici, about 23.7 million light-years away. At magnitude ~8.4 and 18.6′×7.2′ across, it covers roughly two-thirds of a full Moon's length in the sky. It's an intermediate spiral, SAB(s)bc, holding ~400 billion stars across a disk near 135,000 light-years wide. #galaxies

The Moon in Gemini, two years ago. ♊️🌖 #moonlight -- 📷: Nikon Zf camera, Leica Summicron 28mm ASPH lens, Gitzo photo tripod.

Simple things matter #travelphotography #Fuerteventura

Cepheus #stars over Greece 🌌🇬🇷 -- 📷: @xipteras.org w. Sony A7III camera, Sony 24-105mm f4 lens, Polarie mount.

The sacred Lake of Luxor. — 📷: Real, 💯 non-AI image by @xipteras.org , Nikon D4 camera #travelphotography #luxor #egypt

For centuries, Polaris, the North Star, has been a lighthouse for travelers and navigators, standing steadfast in the northern sky. Located some 433 light years away in Ursa Minor, Polaris is the brightest star in its constellation and serves as the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. #stars

🌌 NGC 4236 — the quiet giant of Draco This barred Magellanic spiral sits about 11.7 million light-years away, on the far edge of the M81 group of galaxies. Its light is faint at magnitude ~10, but it sprawls roughly 21.9‘ × 7.2’ across the sky — that’s about two-thirds of the full Moon.

The Sun ☀️ 31.5.2026

NGC4236, a galaxy in Draco 🌌 #galaxies

Solar photography update, 30.5.2026. 🌞 Have a sunny day!

The Sun though the telescope, 29.5.26. #solarphotography -- ‼️WARNING: a special solar protection filter is mandatory‼️ Enjoy the light and CS /px

💎⛓️ Markarian's Chain #galaxies 🔭: 3h 44min with Vaonis Vespera II last month.

Southern vibes ☀️🌴 #Fuerteventura #travelphotography

As usual I spoke too soon about my sky. Be a miracle if I see Moony tonight. Here's a pic of Luna from last night. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour #Moon

A sunny day winds down into a well-earned weekend. A week full of light and shape, crowned tonight by an almost-full moon rising at dusk — a waxing gibbous one night shy of Sunday’s Flower Moon. Thanks for stopping by day in, day out, RTing me and inspiring our friends across the globe. CS 🌕

Sunny vibes through my telescope today. ☀️🔭📹 👈😀 Check out the first 3 minutes on video com.xipteras.org/Astronomy/Th... (Click ℹ️ for info).

💡 Sunspots are darker, cooler areas on the Sun's surface, caused by interactions within its magnetic field. They originate from the solar interior, where hot gases move and generate strong magnetic fields. #solarphotography -- 📷: @xipteras.org TOA-130, Sony A7RV, 2x TC

☀️ The Sun today — not as quiet as it looks. What you see here are sunspot groups AR4444, AR4447, AR4455 and AR4464. Dark patches on a star 1.4 million km across.

Jupiter, Gemini, and Venus, 28.5.2026

☀️ Yeeeees! 🙌 Finally, more sunspots!

Cygnus constellation

🌔 On May 27, 2026, a 90% illuminated Waxing Gibbous moon travels through Virgo, glowing at ~399,000 km from Earth. The growing silver lantern brightens the velvet dark, receding into the deep cosmic distance as it approaches its rare blue full micromoon phase. -- 📷: @xipteras.org #moonphase

Southern constellations

The Moon 🌓 26.5.2026

Capturing the Moon at midnight on 26th May 2026. 🌓 #lunarphotography

The Moon tonight, 25.5.2026

Leo Triplet #galaxies

Dusk Vibes #Fuerteventura

Sunspots 25.5.26

The Sun in white light ☀️ 25.5.2026

The Sun in white light ☀️ 23.5.2026

One hour in, and M106 is brightening on the display while the smart scope runs as planned. A good night to grab what’s still grabbable, summer is almost here, and soon the Milky Way takes over the sky. First 66 minutes on M106.

Twenty minutes in, and the smart scope is running as planned. A good night to grab what’s still grabbable — summer is almost here, and soon the Milky Way takes over the sky. First 20 minutes on M106.

The Moon 🌓 tonight

The Sun in white light ☀️ 23.5.2026

The Moon 🌓 23.5.2026