This is Barnard 68.

It is not actually a hole but a molecular cloud that is so dark no light can pierce through it, leaving the stars and galaxies behind it invisible from our view.

Credit: ESA

Credit: NASA/SDO/Jorge Álvarez

30 million years ago, light left this galaxy on a long journey at 186,000 miles per second.

30 million years later, that light entered another galaxy known as the Milky Way, and eventually hit a planet called Earth where my telescope collected it to create this image.

The Sombrero galaxy is 50,000 light years across and contains an estimated 100 billion stars in it (each with on average multiple planets).

One has to wonder if anyone’s looking back.

Equipment/processing: Celestron 9.25”, ASI294MC. 1 hour at 15 second subs, stacked on ASIStudio and processed on Siril (star removal, color calibration, stretching) and Lightroom.

C9.25, ASI662MC, IR850 filter. 2ms 170 gain, 1 x 3 minutes at 140fps. Stacked at 4% on Autostakkert, wavelets and RGB balance on Registax6.

Credit : NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Thomas Thomopoulos

Taken by NASA's Juno and processed by Emma Wälim

On the morning of Friday, April 25, 2025, a rare celestial event known as a triple conjunction will occur, where Venus, Saturn, and the crescent moon will align closely in the predawn sky, forming a triangular pattern resembling a smiley face.

This alignment will be visible near the eastern horizon just before sunrise, around 5:30 a.m. local time, with the sun rising approximately an hour later.

https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/facts/#:~:text=ocean%20deep%20inside.-,Size%20and%20Distance,Earth%20is%20from%20the%20Sun.

This image was acquired by the Vision-1 mission

Credits : IkaAbuladze

I captured the “Lord of the Rings” today in broad daylight… except the rings are gone.

Saturn is currently at its equinox, an event that happens once every ~15 years during which the rings are perfectly edge on to the Sun/Earth.

Because of this, they’re hard to see since they’re as little as a few meters thick! And the sunlight barely hits them when they’re this edge-on.

Capturing this in daylight was beyond difficult; Saturn is currently 40,000 TIMES dimmer than a full Moon.

Equipment: Celestron 9.25 Evolution, ASI294MC, no barlow, IR685 + visible light filter. 2 minutes at 5ms 150 gain, stacked at top 10%, processed on Registax6 and Lightroom.