Not Only Eclipse: Last Week In Best Astrophotos [5-12 April]

This week, 5-12 April, the focus of all astrophotographers was the main event of the month – the total solar eclipse. However, besides this celestial spectacle, the space also unveiled a myriad of other captivating sights. From the graceful passage of a comet 12P/Pons-Brooks to the enchanting conjunction of Jupiter and the Moon – see this week’s best astrophotos shared by talented amateur astrophotographers on social media.

“Like a diamond in the sky!”

In our initial photograph, we featured the solar eclipse – look how allure the view is as the moon elegantly moves across the sun!

“The diamond ring effect is seen here just after 3rd contact, as the sun reemerges through the irregularities on the lunar limb. Canon R6, RF100-500 at 500 mm, f/7.1, ISO 400, 1/400s, AZ-GTi tracker, April 8, Indianapolis,” the photographer has written.

Jupiter And Moon Conjunction From Best Astrophotos

Another event of the week presents the Jupiter/Moon conjunction that occurred on 10th April. The lucky ones were those who could observe this phenomenon with the naked eye, and some, like @xipteras, also took beautiful photos of it.

Orion Nebula

“Made the switch from photoshop to pixinsight today and wow. I’m blown away by how much more detail I was able to pull out of my Orion Nebula data from February. I will post my image i reprocessed today with pixinsight aswell as the original proccesed image with photoshop,” the author has written on his Facebook.

Worm Moon From Best Astrophotos

“March’s full #WormMoon illuminated at sunset last night in Eastern WA,” @gravitywavz has shared on his X (former Twitter).

The full Moon in March is called the Worm Moon. This name comes from the idea that as winter ends and spring begins, the ground softens, and earthworms emerge in the soil. The Worm Moon is also sometimes called the Sap Moon, Crow Moon, or Lenten Moon in different cultural traditions.

Milky Way Astrophoto

“I had an hour of no clouds this morning at 3.30 am 10.4.24 I was able to get this photo,” Ross Bradley has commented on his stunning Milky Way image.

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks And The Triangulum Galaxy M33

“Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks and the Triangulum galaxy M33. Clear skies, Sebastian,” the author has written.

The appearance of the Devil comet was another outstanding event during the total solar eclipse.

Moon and Jupiter

Another Moon and Jupiter conjunction astrophoto. Thanks to the skillful hands of the photographer, the moon looks like a big beautiful planet in this photo. While Jupiter appears as a tiny little star in the night sky.

Rosette Nebula From Best Astrophotos

“The Rosette nebula is a stellar nursery in the constellation Monoceros. Stars are born from this immense cloud of gas and dust, carving and shaping it with their mass and, in turn, illuminating it with their ionizing radiation. In this composition it looks more like a skull than a rose, see if you can make it out!

Imaged over three nights in early Feb with my Quattro 150p at F3, with the 183MM Pro, and Antlia 3nm Pro SHO filters from Bortle 9 Vancouver,” this is how Rob Lyons described his shot: nothing to add.

Milky Way

“This week, I am camping in some of the darkest skies in the state of Oregon. I woke up at 3:30 this morning and saw the Milky Way traversing the southern sky so I had to capture part of it with my William Optics FLT91 and Optolong Quad Enhance filter. This is (7) 300s exposures taken with the ASI6200MC and stacked in Pixinsight. I also performed ABE and Histogram transformation, saving it as a TIFF. Dark skies make all the difference when it is clear out,” the photographer has written on his Facebook.

Veil Nebula From Best Astrophotos

“I found this image sitting on my computer since last fall, so I decided to try and finish it finally. Hopefully, I have done a reasonably good job of depicting this beautiful object. The Veil Nebula taken with my 16″ Eq mounted Newtonian, ZWO full-frame camera, quad filter, auto stacked in ASIStudio, and processed in ImagesPlus and PhotoshopCS6,” Michael Paul has shared about this astrophoto.

Thank you to all the dedicated space photographers who spread inspiration and knowledge about the universe! Stay tuned for another batch of the best astrophotos next week.