See Comet 13P/Olbers, Aurora and More Astrophotos of the Last Week of Summer 2024

Autumn has arrived, but those summer-like warm nights are still elusive. Astrophotographers are making the most of the season, capturing stunning celestial objects. While we await the autumn sky’s wonders, let’s take a moment to reflect on what space offered us in the final week of summer. Enjoy this fresh selection of the best astrophotos, with all original captions intact.

Comet 13P/Olbers & Black Eye Galaxy M64

One prominent image captures the comet 13P/Olbers alongside the Black Eye galaxy (M64) by Greg Meyers, an astrophotographer based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Comet 13P/Olbers is currently speeding through our solar system and can still be seen with binoculars or a small telescope. A spiral galaxy known as Messier 64, or the Black Eye galaxy, lies in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair), about 17 million light-years away.

Elephant Trunk Nebula

Another astrophoto features the Elephant Trunk nebula.

“A good week of clear nights. 15hrs exposure on The Elephant Trunk Nebula (IC1396).

Stella Lyra RC8 + ASI533 + ASIAir Plus + Optolong L-Ultimate. Processed in Pixinsight. York, UK,” Paul Bailey his beautiful shot.

Aurora In Scotland

Aurora photos are an obligatory part of our summer collection. This one was taken at the Strathlene Golf Course, Scotland.

“Selfie time,” the photographer commented on this astrophoto.

Perseids In Night Sky

The Perseid meteor shower was an impressive night show in 2024.

“One of the greatest Meteor showers I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing with my own eyes,” the lucky photographer has written.

Billion Stars

“Billion stars” is how briefly the author described his shot.

“20 sec. 2500 iso. f 3.5. 18-55 kit lens. Edit LR. Nikon d5600.”

Cygnus Constellation

“In these weeks, the constellation of Cygnus dominates in the middle of the night, above our heads. It is one of the easiest constellations to recognize, it is very large and looks just like a swan with its wings spread. It is a constellation full of deep sky objects and long exposure photos of the entire constellation show that it is all full of nebulosity,” the author told about this astrophoto. “What I am posting is an area around Sadr (gamma Cygni), the second brightest star in the constellation, it is a reworking of a photo of mine from 2016, taken from New Mexico with an apo 106/530 ccd STL11002 30min in Halfa and RGB=30min, it is only a piece of the entire photo.”

Wolf-Rayet Star

“29 hours of installation on WR134! My biggest project and it’s not finished,” says Vincent, astrophotographer.

IC 1396 Nebula

“Back to IC 1396, an emission nebula in the constellation Cepheus, which contains VDB 142, the famous “elephant’s trunk”. I have a little less than 8 hours of exposure here,” the author has comented.

Tulip Nebula

“Tulip Nebula Sh2-101 o LBN168, a Cygnus, 6.000 ly 149×300″ 26-27-28/07 Manresa, bortle 6. OSC Dual Band (Ha-OIII) en paleta HOO,” the photographer described this shot.

M34 Open Cluster

The clouds have definitely been a challenge! So, I’ve been able to work on a couple of older projects. I did play with the diffraction spikes a bit, well, because I liked the way it looked.
I hope you enjoy this beautiful open cluster!
Captured in Florissant, CO,” the author has written. And we absolutely enjoy!

The Heart Without The Soul

“This is IC 1805 better known as the Heart Nebula. It’s 7,500 light years from Earth and lies in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s an emission nebula that features ionized hydrogen gas and dark dust lanes. The Heart Nebula is often imaged along side the adjacent Soul Nebula (hence the title of this image),” the author shared.

“For my image, I chose to shoot a close crop of the Heart Nebula mainly because of technical circumstances(focal length being not wide enough) but I like the close crop as it showcases small intricate details within the nebula.”

Milky Way Over Pine Forest

“Milky Way Rise over pine forest,
Apache Mountains, Arizona USA,” the astrophotographer shared about our last astrophoto of this collection.
“12 x 13 sec. Sonya7iii 28 mm f 3.5. Untracked.
Stacked in Sequator, Processed in GIMP.
Green shade is due to the Airglow.”

Thank you to all the photographers who shared their amazing images for our best astrophotos of last week’s list! We greatly appreciate your dedication and passion for astrophotography and wish you clear skies for your future captures!