A galaxy is a collection of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter held together by gravity. There are four main types of galaxies; spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, irregular galaxies, and lenticular galaxies, which are often classified based on their appearance.
There are many bright galaxies you can photograph from your backyard using a camera and telescope. If you are new to astrophotography and/or have a modest telescope (in terms of size and aperture), start with the brightest galaxies in the night sky and take long-exposure images using a camera on an equatorial telescope mount.
In the astrophotography community, the early spring is referred to as galaxy season, thanks to a large number of galaxies being available to observe and photograph in the night sky at that time.
Last updated: November 4, 2025. If you find this helpful and buy through my links, I may receive a small commission. My latest photo of the Andromeda Galaxy is my best effort yet. I have been taking deep-sky astrophotography images for almost 15 years now, and this might be my favorite photo of space I’ve…
This guide covers some of the best deep-sky astrophotography targets by season in the northern hemisphere. From bright nebulae and galaxies to beautiful star clusters, you’ll find targets that are perfect for beginners and seasoned imagers alike. Knowing what targets are available to you throughout the year makes planning your nights under the stars way…
In the astrophotography realm, Galaxy Season refers to the period in Spring when the night sky offers up a buffet of incredible galaxies to observe and photograph. From early March until mid-May, the window of opportunity for night-sky enthusiasts to photograph a wide variety of galaxies is at its best. I don’t know about you,…
I recently took an incredible picture of a distant galaxy using my backyard telescope. While many of you have seen me do this often on YouTube, this time, the experience was a little different. The rules of this galaxy photography challenge were simple. I could prepare my camera and telescope equipment beforehand, but I only…
Astrophotographer Yannick Akar has stunned the amateur astrophotography community with one of the most detailed photos of the Andromeda Galaxy you will ever see. The image was created by capturing a staggering amount of data, spanning the course of two seasons. The final image includes a whopping 146 hours of total integration. Since posting the…
I recently photographed a galaxy in the night sky with my telescope, using a new approach I have never tried before. The technique is not new, but it is something I’ve never actually tried on a galaxy before. Not only did it produce one of my favorite images I have ever captured, it revealed a…
In this post, I will share the techniques and equipment I used to take a picture of the stunning Sunflower Galaxy. With the world largely shut down for me, deep-space astrophotography in the backyard has been a welcome escape. Cataloged as Messier 63, this stunning galaxy is about 25 million light-years away from Earth in…
In this post, I’ll walk you through the image processing steps I used to create the image of the Andromeda Galaxy shown below. This astrophotography tutorial uses Adobe Photoshop to bring out the intense colors and detail of a galaxy that was photographed using a DSLR camera and a small telescope. You can follow along…
I’ve been given the unique opportunity to review a new Ritchey-Chrétien Telescope, the iOptron Photron RC6. This telescope has a longer focal length than any of my refractors, which I plan on putting to good use. The impressive 1370mm focal length means that this stocky red Ritchey-Chrétien is a perfect choice for astrophotography during galaxy…
With summer coming to a close, I had one last chance for some deep sky astrophotography under dark skies. Choosing an astrophotography target at a dark sky site requires some serious thought. The key is to focus on an object that will benefit from broadband color data without the need for harsh light pollution filters….
Markarian’s Chain is an impressive photography subject for those with a camera and telescope to capture it. This string of 7 distinct galaxies is a member of the Virgo Cluster and epitomizes the types of astrophotography subjects available during galaxy season. On Friday night (Good Friday), I was spoiled with a second consecutive clear night sky. The…
The Leo Triplet is an interesting group of 3 galaxies that are often observed and photographed within a single field of view. The Leo Triplet includes spiral galaxies M65, M66, and NGC 3628. This group of galaxies is also known as the M66 group, and is found in the constellation Leo. Each one of the…