nebula

Bray Falls and Chester Hall-Fernandez discover new nebula

How Two Astrophotographers Discovered a New Nebula

"It is a very common misconception amongst people that the night sky has been explored in its entirety by the great professional space observatories like James Webb, Hubble, NASA, and ESA. People think there is nothing left for the average person to go out and discover in space. But this couldn't be further from the truth," says astrophotographer Bray Falls.

How One Astrophotographer Made a New Scientific Discovery

Astrophotographer Bray Falls recently posted a series of striking images on Instagram that instantly caught PetaPixel's eye. Falls' photos aren't just visually stunning; they represent a brand-new discovery, a significant accomplishment for any astrophotographer.

Comparing Webb’s First Photos to What Hubble Saw

NASA has finally published the first colorized, full-resolution photos captured by the James Webb Space Telescope and the detail and resolution of the images is incredible, especially when compared to the images of these same cosmic objects captured by Hubble.

How to Shoot ‘Space Nebula’ Smoke Photos at Home

During long periods of cloudy weather, it can be really frustrating as an astrophotographer to wait for the sky to clear up. Over the years, I’ve learned how to handle these long downtimes.

Astrophotographer Creates 3D Views of His Space Photos

Photographs of space are usually flat, telling viewers nothing about the relative distances of stars and galaxies seen in the frame. Finnish astrophotographer J-P Metsavainio has decided to change that by creating amazing 3D conversions from his 2D photos.

How to Try Deep Space Astrophotography Without Spending a Fortune

Are you a photographer who would love to give deep space imaging a try – but you’re not quite ready to spend thousands of dollars (or more) to build your own astrophotography rig? With remote astrophotography, you can create astonishing images without the high startup costs.

This is How Scientists Colorize Hubble Photos of Deep Space

Every mind-blowing deep space photograph captured by the Hubble space telescope that you've ever seen started out black-and-white. So how do we get those amazing technicolor images of the Pillars of Creation or the Bubble Nebula? This short video explains how scientists manage this feat.

NASA Captures the Galaxy’s Biggest Fireworks Show

As photographers in the US are gearing up to capture photos of 4th of July fireworks, NASA has released a gorgeous "fireworks" photo of its own. It's a shot of a "the galaxy's biggest ongoing stellar fireworks show" that started 170 years ago.

Beautiful Views of the SpaceX Launch that Lit Up the West Coast Sky

A bright a dazzling light show appeared in the Southern California sky last night, and social media was flooded with snapshots by people who wondered if they were seeing an alien invasion. It was actually a SpaceX rocket -- the first time billionaire Elon Musk's company has landed the Falcon 9 rocket's reusable first stage on the West Coast.

Giant Bubble Nebula Captured by the Hubble Telescope

Earlier this year, to celebrate the 26th birthday of its Hubble Space Telescope, NASA shot and published this gorgeous photo of the Bubble Nebula, which has a balloon-like bubble that's expanding in space from a super-hot, massive star that's 45 times more massive than our Sun. The image shows the bubble with never-before-seen clarity.

Two Photos of the Orion Nebula Show Just How Far Photography Has Come

The saying goes, "your cell phone has more computing power than all of NASA in 1969. NASA launched a man to the moon. We launched a bird into pigs."

Thankfully, in addition to launching furious balls of feathers into evil swine, we also use our phones for taking photographs. And just as our phones have more computing power than all of NASA in 1969, our phones also have better imaging capabilities than many of the astrophotography endeavors of the past.

Tilt-Shift Effect Applied to Photographs of the Cosmos to Create a ‘Tiny Universe’

Photographs of galaxies far far away rarely convey just how large what you're looking at really is -- after all, how can you even fathom something that is measured in light years across. But these photos of the cosmos do an even worse job. By applying the tilt-shift effect in post, these photos show galaxies and nebulae look like they could fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

Artist Uses Photoshop to Bring Beautiful Shapes out of Celestial Photography

By using Photoshop on photos taken by NASA at the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, London-based illustrator Chris Keegan is able to create beautiful images of people and creatures out of deep space nebulae.

The process begins a lot like those summer days as a kid lying in the grass and picking shapes out of the clouds -- just replace clouds with celestial imagery. Once Keegan has picked out a shape, he takes the image into Photoshop and strengthens that shape until it will be recognizable to everyone.

Amazing Animated GIFs Capture Nebulae in 3D Using Artificial Parallax

Parallax 3D images use two photos captured from slightly different vantage point to create the appearance of depth. In astrophotography, however, the distance between human cameras and distance objects are so great that real parallax generally cannot be achieved.

Finnish astrophotographer J-P Metsavainio has developed a brilliant experimental technique that overcomes this (kinda): he converts astrophotographs into 3D volumetric models, and then uses those models to create dazzling 3D animations of nebulae.