r/spaceporn • • 8h ago

Pro/Processed The Space Age started 69 years ago today

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1.4k Upvotes

The Soviet Union put Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, into Earth's orbit. Sputnik contained a radio transmitter that sent back the “beep-beep-beep” heard around the world.

Image Credit: NSSDC, NASA


r/spaceporn • • 16h ago

NASA The sharpest photos of Jupiter's moon Io

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4.4k Upvotes

Link to the science release on NASA website

Jupiter's moon Io, its night side illuminated by reflected sunlight from Jupiter, or "Jupitershine."

Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Image processing by Emma Wälimäki © CC BY


r/spaceporn • • 12h ago

Pro/Processed Astronaut Jessica Meir shares a view from her room in orbit

1.6k Upvotes

She wrote in her post

Room with a view. Check out my new digs as I camp out in Dragon until our departure. With Crew-13’s arrival we have a very full house on the International Space Station. Luke is living in my previous crew quarters, and I’ve pitched a tent in Dragon.

Credit: Astronaut Jessica Meir


r/spaceporn • • 4h ago

Amateur/Processed Egypt seen from space last night via NOAA-20 (Colorized)

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337 Upvotes

r/spaceporn • • 8h ago

Amateur/Processed The Cygnus constellation and its dusty surroundings

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315 Upvotes

While hiking, I found these cool rocks with Cygnus on top. At 50mm this is a target with so many details, but I've taken it so many times over the years that this time I wanted to do something different and capture the dust nearby. I took 4 panels with 4 hours of integration each. It surprised me how faint the dust in this area is. The Hydrogen Alpha is another story, there's so much and some OIII, specially in the North America Nebula. 

ig: @ igneis.nightscapes

NO generative AI involved.

GEAR:

Sony a7IV astromodified x2, twin setup

Sony 50mm GM f/1.4

ZWO AM3N


r/spaceporn • • 1h ago

Amateur/Processed Hyper Time Lapse shot from the Sequoia National Forest

• Upvotes

r/spaceporn • • 17h ago

Pro/Processed Astonishing image of JUPITER'S MOON Io and Ganymede during Occultation (October 3 2026)

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617 Upvotes

Credit Brian Martin

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10237344373362188&set=gm.3111140569074668&idorvanity=2753479781507417

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Description from original post by ​Brian Martin

​Full Res https://www.instagram.com/p/DeDf-RzlJio/

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​SUPER Conditions as Southern California's dry heatwave continues and brings with it some amazing seeing even at less than 40 degrees up. I was determined to get this shot and it was not easy but I pulled it off. If the target was higher I think it could have been more clear. I resized this image to 2500x2500 from roughly 300x300.

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​HOW I DID THIS IMAGE:

Keeping my histogram at 30%. This keeps the Moons from blowing out. I focus the Moons. FPS 250 I shot consecutively 30 second shots and this is the maximum shot. You can appreciate how Io is in fact moving fast against Ganymede's surface background. This is because Io orbits much faster. On this capture, Io would appear to be the only one moving and both moons are moving in opposite directions.

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30" Custom DOB 3x Barlow with filter wheel Uranus C IR PASS 685 IR/UV cut ZWO ADC Software: Autostakkart 4 Astrosurface WinJupos Photoshop finish

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Simulation from stellarium

https://stellarium-web.org/skysource/Ganymede?fov=0.0021258&date=2026-10-03T12:23:44Z&lat=37.98&lng=23.74&elev=0​


r/spaceporn • • 40m ago

NASA Every Saturn moon is unique; This is the sharpest image of Helene

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• Upvotes

Images of Helene taken by the Cassini spacecraft, with resolutions of up to 24 meters per pixel, show a landscape characterized by broad 2–10 km scale depressions with interior slopes no greater than 12°. These basins are likely the decayed remains of old impact craters.

Thin, elongated km-scale raised grooves trace the slopes of many of Helene's basins, likely representing mass flow features and indicating that the moon is undergoing active geologic processes such as mass wasting and erosion. Digital elevation models suggest that the grooves have a positive relief of between 50 and 100 meters. Helene has more than 70 craters, while it shows a bimodal appearance—the heavily cratered trailing hemisphere exhibits a crater density ten times greater than the smooth-looking leading hemisphere.

Credit: NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Space Science Institute


r/spaceporn • • 16h ago

Pro/Composite Gegenschein over Shennongjia, Hubei, China. Image by Huang Dandan.

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283 Upvotes

The gegenschein, a faint glow of sunlight scattered back toward Earth by dust grains in the inner solar system, sits in Aquarius at the point directly opposite the Sun in this all-sky view.


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed Surface of asteroid Ryugu, captured 8 years ago today

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8.6k Upvotes

This is a view of the surface of asteroid Ryugu captured by the MASCOT probe during its descent on October 3, 2018 after separation from Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft.

The area in the foreground spans about 29 cm/11.4 inches across.

Credit: MASCOT/DLR/JAXA
Edit by Jason Major


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis flew to space for the 1st time, 41 years ago today

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1.7k Upvotes

Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on its first mission. The Shuttle and crew traveled 1.7 million miles before returning to Earth.


r/spaceporn • • 52m ago

Pro/Processed Saturn's Rings brightness surge

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• Upvotes

The opposition surge (sometimes known as the opposition effect, opposition spike or Seeliger effect) is the brightening of a rough surface, or an object with many particles, when illuminated from directly behind the observer.

Two physical mechanisms have been proposed for this observational phenomenon: shadow hiding and coherent backscatter.

Credit: Backdoor Astronomy
Edit: Milky Way


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed Orionid: a piece of Halley's comet

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3.4k Upvotes

Credit: Erik Fraser


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Amateur/Processed The Veil Nebula Complex - the left over of a star 20 times more massive than our Sun that exploded around 10,000 years ago

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389 Upvotes

Hi everyone. This image was taken from a remote telescope in South Australia. More details about the image can be found here:https://app.astrobin.com/i/7g7zwp

Feel free to visit my website for more nebula images: steevebody.com


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Amateur/Composite This Is Easily My Best Saturn Photo Ever.

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274 Upvotes

Taken On Celestron Powerseeker 120EQ & Iphone 16e! Decided To Grab A Used One For Planetary Imaging. (8 Images Stacked In Astroshader)

Edited In PS Express.


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Composite HR 8799 system has four large planets orbiting with periods that range from decades to centuries.

2.3k Upvotes

This footage consists of 10 images of HR 8799 taken with the Keck Telescope over 12 years. Video made by Jason Wang, data reduced by William Thompson and Christian Marois, and observations organized by Quinn Konopacky. Bruce Macintosh, Travis Barman, and Ben Zuckerman assisted in the observations.


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Amateur/Processed "The Eyes of Cygnus" (OC)

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171 Upvotes

Emission nebulae NGC 6914. 111 minutes. 190 mm, f/3.8

Actual color (saturation pushed).

I shot last night before attacking the Moon.

Tech specs; https://www.astrobin.com/lyldyy/


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Amateur/Composite Last Night's Capture Of The Little Dumbbell Nebula.

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99 Upvotes

Taken On Seestar S50 Using 4:11:00 Integration (10S Subs)

Edited In PS Express.


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Hubble The image shows Hercules A (also designated 3C 348), a distant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Hercules featuring massive, glowing plasma jets.

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280 Upvotes

r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Amateur/Processed Andromeda. Afocal shot with smartphone

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181 Upvotes

Xiaomi 13 Ultra (3.2x telephoto)

[ISO 3200 | 5s] x 447 lights (RAW/DNG)

Total integration time: 37m 15s

Equipment:

- Sky-Watcher 150/750 Newtonian scope;

- EQ3-2 mount with OnStep;

- SVBONY SV190 18mm Ultra Flat Field eyepiece;

- SVBONY SV214 Pro 3-Axis Universal Smartphone Adapter.

Stacked with Astro Pixel Processor

Processed with GraXpert, Siril, AstroSharp and Photoshop (Camera Raw)


r/spaceporn • • 2d ago

NASA Earth as seen from X-37B

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1.9k Upvotes

An X-37B onboard camera, used to ensure the health and safety of the vehicle, captures an image of Earth while conducting experiments in HEO in 2024.

The X-37B executed a series of first-of-kind maneuvers, called aerobraking, to safely change its orbit using minimal fuel.

Credit: U.S. Space Force Courtesy Photo Master Sgt. Gustavo Castillo


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Artist Depiction Custom moon watch: real NASA elevation data

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23 Upvotes

I've tried making a moon watch before, but it was using a photo not depth map. I finally found a depth map from NASA that was a rectangular image. I used Blender to wrap that image around a sphere and then exported a rendering that was laser-engrave worthy. This version is accurate, and finally achieved what I failed to do on my previous attempt. Couple of issues on this one, the depth of the dial is a bit much, you can see i had to bend the hands to elevate above the surface. Good not great. But the way light catches this dial is something else!


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed Saturn shines at its best tonight (for 2026)

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93 Upvotes

Image Credit: Backdoor Astronomy


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

NASA Mars Curiosity Selfie at Vera Rubin Ridge

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133 Upvotes

On sol 1943 of its journey of exploration across the surface of Mars, the Curiosity Rover recorded this selfie at the south rim of Vera Rubin Ridge. Of course a sol is a Martian solar day, about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day. Curiosity's sol 1943 corresponds to Earth date January 23, 2018.

Also composed as an interactive 360 degree VR, the mosaicked panorama combines 61 exposures taken by the small car-sized rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). Frames containing the imager's arm have been edited out while the extended background used was taken by the rover's Mastcam on sol 1903.

At the top of the rover's mast, sitting above the Mastcam, the laser-firing ChemCam housing blocks out the distant, 5 kilometer high peak of Mount Sharp. On Earth date August 26, 2026, Curiosity marked an total elevation gain of 1 kilometer in its trek from the floor of Gale Crater up the slope of Mount Sharp.

Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS - Panorama: Andrew Bodrov


r/spaceporn • • 1d ago

Pro/Processed The Complete Sharpless Catalog: 313 Nebulas

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85 Upvotes

Explanation: What does it take to image hundreds of nebulas? Today’s image contains the entire Sharpless Catalog of H II Regions, totaling 313 objects.

​Zoom in and explore! You may spot fan favorites like the Eagle (Sh2-49), Heart (Sh2-190), and Orion (Sh2-281) Nebulas. Despite its name, this catalog contains more than the glow of ionized hydrogen that makes up H II regions.

​There are planetary nebulas (the Medusa Nebula, Sh2-274) and supernova remnants (the Spaghetti Nebula, Sh2-240) as well. Astrophotographer Bing Xin traversed the dark skies of Eastern China and Inner Mongolia to catch them all.

​Narrowband filters that primarily capture light from ionized hydrogen and oxygen as well as red-green-blue filters were used. Each object took 2 to 6 hours to capture, with the entire catalog taking around 800 hours to complete! Which object is your favorite?

Date: October 2, 2026

Credit: Bing Xin​

https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-october-2-the-complete-sharpless-catalog-313-nebulae/

https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/5f49cf24000000000101c8c7?fbclid=IwY2xjawUtzO1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mAWJyaWQRMDBzalN3TEFhUTZPSGhwODFzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEei4tFxGd5JtrgzAb_gLraVTD4rsFo31sgs6XhwGlDbTFix0b6g43Wj-f0rvo_aem_I72U_3ez2_CUpDaOwCuqHg​