View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Desmond Allred in Tremonton, Utah, captured the Snake Nebula in the constellation Ophiuchus on May 18, 2024. Desmond wrote: “This is probably my favorite image I’ve captured so far in my 3 years in doing astrophotography! I found a cool-looking area of the Milky Way while exploring my star app (SkyGuide). I was excited to see if I could capture the dark dust lanes with a bright moon overhead.” It looks amazing. Thank you, Desmond. See more of our editor’s picks from May’s deep-sky photos below.
Stunning deep-sky photos from our community
The EarthSky community has many talented astrophotographers who capture stunning images of the deep sky. So enjoy this gallery of some of the best deep-sky photos we received in May 2024. Do you have some of your own deep-sky images to share? You can submit them to us here. We love to see them!
Deep-sky photos of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cameron Frankish in Longdown, Devon, United Kingdom, caught the nebulosity surrounding the star Rho Ophiuchi on May 4, 2024. This star and its colorful environs lie in the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer. Thank you, Cameron!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ekansh Tardeja in Pune, Maharashtra, India, caught the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex on May 4, 2024. Ekansh wrote: “Reflection and dark nebulae complex in our galaxy, the Milky Way, visible as a faint smudge to the unaided eye.” Thank you, Ekansh!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tom Sorensen at Golden Spike National Historical Park, Utah, also captured the Rho Ophiuchi region, on May 9, 2024. Tom wrote: “This popular area of the Milky Way’s core is sprawling with different nebulae. Perhaps the reason this area is so iconic is because of the contrast of the dark nebulae blocking the light of the emission nebulae.” Thank you, Tom!
Deep-sky photos of diffuse nebulae
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, caught the Lagoon and Trifid and other nebulae in the constellation Sagittarius on May 17, 2024. Andy wrote: “Lagoon center, Trifid right, Chinese Dragon left.” Thank you, Andy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, caught the the Pelican Nebula in the constellation Cygnus on May 8, 2024. Andy wrote: “It took me nearly 3 hours to get the guiding working on my new ZWO gear, and I still don’t know how I did it! I got pics of 3 different objects. I liked this one the best, a big improvement over the pic I took a year ago.” Thank you, Andy!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andrea Iorio in Marino, Rome, Italy, captured the galaxy Messier 87 in the constellation Virgo on May 5, 2024. Andrea wrote: “M87, also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, is a supergiant elliptical galaxy containing several trillion stars. It is about 53 million light-years from Earth and is the 2nd-brightest galaxy within the northern Virgo Cluster. M87 has an active supermassive black hole at its core, which forms the primary component of an active galactic nucleus. The black hole ejects a relativistic jet of plasma extending at least 5,000 light-years from the nucleus. The image shows its satellite galaxies and the jet.” Thank you, Andrea!
Groups of galaxies
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Fred Holman in Contoocook, New Hampshire, captured the galaxy Messier 100 and its neighbors in the constellation Coma Berenices on May 7, 2024. Fred wrote: “M100 or the Mirror Galaxy is a grand-design intermediate spiral galaxy about 55 million light-years away. It is one of the brightest and largest galaxies in the Virgo cluster that has hosted 7 supernovas since 1901.” Thank you, Fred!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia at Cherry Springs State Park, Pennsylvania, captured the galaxy group Arp 297 on May 2, 2024. Steven wrote: “Arp 297, in Boötes, is an interacting galaxy group. One of the galaxies, NGC 5754, is often considered a Milky Way twin.” Wonderful shot. Thank you, Steven!
Bottom line: Enjoy this gallery of deep-sky photos for May 2024 from our EarthSky community. And if you have a great photo to share, send it in. 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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