Watch the editor’s picks of deep-sky photos from December 2024 in this video. Read more about them below.
Stunning deep-sky photos from our community
The EarthSky community has many talented astrophotographers who capture stunning images of the deep sky. We gathered some of our favorite deep-sky photos we received in December 2024 for you to enjoy. Do you have some of your own deep-sky images to share? You can submit them to us here. We love to see them!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Robert Pettengill in Austin, Texas (and 2 other locations), captured the Rosette nebula in Monoceros on December 22, 2024. Robert wrote: “A long-exposure image of the Rosette Nebula on 5 nights in December from Tucson, Austin and Bad Wolf Ranch.” Beautiful! Thank you, Robert.
Deep-sky photos of diffuse nebulae
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, captured Thor’s Helmet on December 30, 2024. Steven wrote: “Thor’s Helmet is an emission nebula that glows from the energetic winds of Wolf-Rayet star WR7. It resides 12,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major, the larger of Orion’s 2 hunting dogs.” Thank you, Steven!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured IC443, the Jellyfish nebula in the constellation Gemini, on December 7, 2024. Andy wrote: “I had never read about or seen pics of this nebula. I was just wandering around in Stellarium and said ‘Wow, that looks interesting.’ And so it is. This is a supernova remnant from 30,000-35,000 years ago. It is 5,000 light-years away. There is so much cool stuff in space. Doesn’t the bright red part look like a jellyfish?” Thank you, Andy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Shaurya Salunkhe in Pune, Maharashtra, India, caught Messier 42, the Orion nebula, on December 7, 2024. Shaurya wrote: “The Orion Nebula, located approximately 1,344 light-years away in Orion’s Sword. It is one of the brightest nebulae visible in the night sky. It is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth.” Thank you, Shaurya!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured NGC 1333, the Embryo nebula, on December 29, 2024. Andy wrote: “Embryo Nebula, located in Perseus, 980 to 1,140 light-years away. Notice the dark nebulae (upper right and lower left).” Thank you, Andy!
Planetary nebulae
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, captured the Bear Claw nebula on December 3, 2024. Steven wrote: “The Bear Claw nebula is a large but very faint planetary nebula in Cassiopeia. Astronomer Stewart Sharpless first discovered this nebula in 1959 and included it in his catalog of HII regions under the name of Sh2-200.” Thank you, Steven!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Scott Smith in Palmetto, Florida, captured the Helix nebula in Aquarius on December 19, 2024. Scott wrote: “The Helix nebula, often called the Eye of God, is a planetary nebula that’s the result of a dying star. The Helix nebula is the remains of a star that’s nearing the end of its life and has blown off its outer layers of gas. The remaining core of the star is a white dwarf, which is a small, hot, dense remnant.” Thank you, Scott!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured galaxies Messier 81 and Messier 82 in Ursa Major on December 29, 2024. Andy wrote: “These 2 galaxies, while not large objects (like Andromeda), are bright and thus relatively easy to photograph, plus the difference between the 2 makes it all the more interesting.” Thank you, Andy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mohammed Abdallah in Suez, Egypt, captured the Andromeda galaxy on December 16, 2024. Mohammed wrote: “Andromeda, M31, our largest neighbor galaxy, shot from my backyard in Bortle 8, Suez. I reprocessed this shot many times but the end result is quite satisfying.” Thank you, Mohammed!
And two supernovae in distant galaxies
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, used a large remote telescope in Utah to make these images of Supernova 2024aeee and Supernova 2024aecx on December 19, 2024. Eliot wrote: “Two nice supernovae were discovered during the Cold Full Moon period. Both visible in the Northern Hemisphere. SN2024aeee in galaxy NGC 2523 was discovered December 17, 2024 (left), and Supernova 2024aecx in galaxy NGC 3521 was discovered December 16, 2024 (right).” Thank you, Eliot!
Bottom line: Enjoy this gallery of deep-sky photos for December 2024 from our EarthSky community. If you have a great photo to share, send it in, too. We love to see them!
Armando is known primarily as an astronomy educator, after 30+ years of extensive public outreach and 10 years teaching in colleges. As one of only a handful of science communicators in Puerto Rico during Comet Halley's last visit, he assumed a pioneering role starting in 1985 when science was just beginning to enter the collective mindset. Over the years, his work as a teacher, speaker and writer, inspired people to pursue interests in science and brought enduring change to Puerto Rican culture. After being accepted into the 2014–2015 Antarctic season of PolarTREC, Armando was assigned to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where in 2015 he successfully conducted 10 days of work at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. His affiliations include Ana G. Méndez University, Cupey campus (2014 to 2021), the University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla campus (2015 to 2017), NASA JPL's Solar System Ambassadors (2004 to 2006), and NASA Space Grant (2017 to 2019) where he served as an affiliate representative.
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