Interstellar Comet #3i/ATLAS, at most a few km across in size, and 250,000,000 km away, on a one way journey through our solar system. This image was produced from 11 exposures of 60s captured in our suburban backyard observatory. #comet #astrophotography #space #solarsystem #night #astronomy

My first view of 3i/ATLAS - the 3rd interstellar object ever seen in our solar system! It’s ~0400h and I’m imaging through a gap in our magnolia tree, but at I’ve seen it! Imaged with a Takahashi TOA 130NFB at 992mm FL, f7.7 #comet #comets #3i/atlas #interstellar #astrophotography #space #astronomy

Blue-banded bee - Amegilla asserta - If you’ve ever wondered how long the proboscis is on a blue-banded bee…. Taken with a Sony a7riii and a Sony 100 -400mm zoom at 400mm. #bees #insects #naturephotography #Canberra #Australianinsects #Australianfauna

The full Moon through last night’s veil of thin clouds. #Moon #nightsky #mood #sky #astronomy #Canberra

Dendrobium lichenastrum - Common button orchid blooming in the greenhouse. #orchids @orchidfever.bsky.social #Australianorchids #flowers

Australian painted lady - Vanessa kershawi. #butterflies #insects #naturephotography #Canberra

Another view of a male Superb Fairywren - Malurus cyaneus #birds #birdphotography #Australianbirds #naturephotography #Canberra

Superb fairywren - Malurus cyaneus

Comet C/2025 R2 SWAN from the suburban backyard observatory in #Canberra on 14 October 2025. 30x60sec with a Takahashi TOA 130; ZWO ASI533MC; processed in #Siril #astrophotography #astronomy #comet #C/2025R2SWAN

The Helix Nebula - NGC 7293 - a planetary nebula formed by an exploding star similar to The Sun. It’s one of the closer planetary nebulae at a mere 650 light years from Earth. 2h40m of data collected with a Takahashi TSA 120 at f5.8. #astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #eyeinthesky

Eastern rosella in Wee Jasper Grevillea in the #Canberra front yard. #birds #parrots #australianbirds

Crimson rosella in Wee Jasper Grevillea in the #Canberra front yard. #birds #parrots #australianbirds

Red wattlebird on a Wee Jasper grevillea in our #Canberra front yard this morning. #birds #Australianbirds

A very happy rock orchid - Dendrobium speciosum - blooming in the greenhouse. #orchid #flowers #Dendrobium @orchidfever.bsky.social

This Rock Orchid is Dendrobium speciosum grandiflorum “Golden Cascades”. It’s very happy in the greenhouse and it looks like it will bloom before most of the other Dendrobiums. #orchids #orchids #Dendrobium @orchidfever.bsky.social

When I come across a jumping spider I often transfer it to the greenhouse. They’re thriving and doing a good job of pest management! Here’s one consuming an intruder on a Dendrobium speciosum flower spike. #orchid #orchids @orchidfever.bsky.social

The Rock Orchid - this one is Dendrobium speciosum grandiflorum “Golden Cascades” - is putting out some big flower spikes this year! #orchids #orchid #flowers #Dendrobium

The spiral galaxy NGC 6744 lies some 30 million light-years away from our home galaxy, the Milky Way. This beautiful galaxy can be found in the southern Pavo constellation. Photographed from our suburban #Canberra backyard. 5h 30 m of data. #astronomy #astrophotography #galaxy #space #deepsky

NGC 6744 from our #Canberra backyard on a bright moonlit night. This galaxy is one of the most similar to the Milky Way, but NGC 6744 is about 75% larger. The light from the galaxy is 30 million years old. 2h25m of data. #astrophotography #astrophoto #astronomy #galaxy

NGC 6357 - War and Peace or Lobster Nebula imaged with a dual narrowband filter, #Optolong L-Extreme filter from our suburban #Canberra backyard. 5 hours total integration time. #astronomy #astrophotography #deepsky #nebula #astrophoto

The Lagoon Nebula - Messier 8 - from our suburban #Canberra backyard observatory. Total integration time = 4h10m with a #Takahashi TOA 130 and #ZWO ASI533MC. #astronomy #astrophotography #astrophoto #nebula #messier #deepsky #siril #graxpert #gimp

The Fighting Dragons of Ara - NGC 6188 from our suburban #Canberra backyard observatory.

Omega Centauri - 10 million stars, 10. -12 billion years old and the largest globular cluster in the #MilkyWay imaged from the backyard #observatory with a 130mm 1000mm FL refractor and a ZWO ASI533MC camera. 1h42m total integration time. #astrophotography #astronomy #deepsky #night #nighttime

Southern Pinwheel Galaxy M83 from the #Canberra backyard observatory last night. 7h30m of data collected on cold moonless nights with a Takahashi TOA 130 refractor + ZWO ASI533MC camera. Processed in #Siril and #GIMP. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy #deepsky #stars

Trifid Nebula M20 from our suburban backyard. 5 hours of data collected with a Takahashi TOA 130 refractor + ZWO ASI533MC camera + UV/IR filter. Processed in #Siril #GraXpert and #GIMP. #astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #deepsky #stars

Sombrero Galaxy M104 from our suburban backyard. Data collected with a Takahashi TOA 130 refractor + ZWO ASI533MC camera + UV/IR filter. Processed in #Siril and #GIMP. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy #deepsky #stars

Here’s just 50 minutes of data on the Trifid Nebula from last night with my 130mm backyard telescope (left image) vs the same object from the 8400mm, $US800million Vera Rubin Observatory. Rubin is not designed for high resolution imaging of small objects. #astronomy #astrophotography #VeraRubin

One 5 minute image of the Trifid Nebula from last night. Many more to come before stacking and processing. #astronomy #astrophotography #nebula #deepspace

Red-rumped parrots - Psephotus haematonotus - in the front yard this afternoon. Sony a7riii + Sony GM 100-400mm. #birds #Parrots #naturephotography #birdphotography

Southern Pinwheel Galaxy M83 from the #Canberra backyard observatory last night. It was a cold -2°C when I shutdown. 3h55m of data collected with a Takahashi TOA 130 refractor + ZWO ASI533MC camera + UV/IR filter. Processed in #Siril and #GIMP. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy #deepsky #stars

Running Chicken Nebula IC 2944 in Centaurus from the backyard observatory and a close up of Bok Globules - dense clouds of gas and dust that may contain the embryos of stars. Tak TOA 130 + ZWO ASI533MC + UV/IR filter. Processed in Siril. #astronomy #astrophotography #nebula #interstellar @siril.org

Lake Burley Griffin #Canberra during this afternoon’s dog walk. #sunset

Full Moon - 10 June 2025 - from #Canberra, Australia. I was on the shortest possible exposure time, 0.000032 sec, and the lowest possible gain (1!!!) on my deep sky camera. Clearly, it’s not designed for Moon photography. #astronomy #astrophotography #moon

Another #Moon shot - 9 day old waxing gibbous 5 June 2025 - but this one is with the TOA 130 (focal length of 980mm) and the astro camera not the Sony and 400mm telephoto. This is a stack of 200 stills processed in @siril.org #astrophotography #astronomy

The Moon from #Canberra tonight 4 June 2025. 100 images stacked in Autostakkert. Sony a7riii and Sony 100-400mm at 400mm. 1/320s f5.6 iso100. #moon #astronomy #astrophotography

A bit of tweaking of the previous post - Omega Centauri NGC 5139, the largest known globular cluster in the Milky Way - imaged from the backyard. 1.5h of data collected with a Takahashi TOA 130 telescope and ZWO ASI533MC camera. Processed in @siril.org and #GIMP. #astrophotography #astronomy

Milky Way over Lake George, NSW - 2034h 30 May 2025. One minute later the fog rolled over us and we couldn’t see a single star. Sony a7riii with a Sony GM 24mm f1.4 lens. Exposure: 13s f1.4 iso3200. #astrophotography #astronomy #landscapes #MilkyWay

Preview of a work in progress. At least 5 galaxies (NGC 3256, NGC 3262, NGC 3263, PGC 30873, PGC 30867) visible in this image in the region of the constellation Vela. They form a group with other galaxies about 120 million light years away. Tak TOA 130 + ZWO ASI533MC #astrophotography #astronomy

Dendrobium Rutherford Starburst ‘Tinonee’ an all Australian hybrid, has been putting out flowers since March. I divided the plant last year and it’s loving it. #orchids #orchid #flowers

Jewel Box Cluster - NGC 4755 - imaged from the moonless backyard last night. Total integration time = 2h33m. Takahashi TOA 130 980mm FL. #astrophotography #astronomy #stars #starcluster #Canberra

Zoomed in view of a single 10 minute sub of M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. It was cloud free and supposed to be that way for the night, but the clouds suddenly came in after only 3 x 10 minutes. Hoping for clear skies tomorrow night. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy

Vela globular cluster - NGC 3201 - from the suburban backyard. 110 x 120sec images stacked and processed. A bright moon for about half of the data. Takahashi TOA 130, ZWO ASI533MC. Processed in #Siril and #GIMP #astrophotography #astronomy #stars #space

I’ve added additional data to the image of the spiral galaxy NGC 2997. Still a work in progress and a learning experience.Takahashi TOA 130, ZWO ASI533MC camera. Processing in #Siril and #GIMP. #astronomy #astrophotography #galaxy #stars

Orchard swallowtail - Papilio aegeus - feeding on Salvia in our backyard. Sony a7riii; Sony 90mm macro; Godox 860iii flash; #Cygnustech diffuser. #butterfly #butterflies #insects #macrophotography

The Eta Carinae Nebula imaged from the backyard last night. 2h55m of data collected under Bortle 7 sky with no moon. Takahashi TOA 130 + reducer, ZWO ASI533MC, Takahashi EM200 mount. Processed in #Siril and #GIMP #astronomy #astrophotography #nebula #deepsky

The 40 million light year distant spiral galaxy NGC 2997 from the backyard observatory with a bright waning gibbous moon. 3h 45m of data with a Takahashi TOA 130 + reducer at f5.4. ZWO ASI533MC camera + UV/IR filter. Processing in #Siril and #GIMP. #astronomy #astrophotography #galaxy #stars

This is one 5 minute exposure from last night’s imaging session of the spiral galaxy NGC 2997 located about 40 million light years from Earth. I collected a total of 3h 20m of data, still to be processed, and plan to collect more. The moon was bright, but subs look ok. #astronomy #astrophotography

Single frames of 300sec on two objects I started imaging tonight: Thor’s Helmet (NGC 2359) and the head of the Seagull Nebula (VdB 93 which is part of IC 2177). Takahashi TOA 130 NFB telescope and ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera. #astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #deepsky

The Moon from #Canberra this evening. Taken while it was very low in the sky (12° altitude), I was waiting for it to get dark for an astrophotography session. A single frame with a Takahashi TOA 130 telescope and ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera. #astrophotography #astronomy #Moon

The Tarantula Nebula is a highly active star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light years distant. Imaged from my backyard with a Takahashi TOA 130, ZWO ASI533MC, UV-IR filter. 20 frames x 180 sec = 1hr integration time. Processed in #Siril #astrophotography #astronomy