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First photo of the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way is revealed

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Astronomers have unveiled the first image ever of Sagitarrius A* (Sgr A*), the enormous black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. The image was created by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, using observations from a global network of radio telescopes.

The image is important and long-anticipated. Scientists had previously recorded stars orbiting around something invisible, compact, and very massive at the centre of the Milky Way. This strongly suggested that this object is a black hole, and the image is the first direct visual evidence to confirm this theory.

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James Webb telescope reaches the final stage of alignment

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sent its first photos earlier this year. Since then, it has come a long way, going through seven stages of mirror alignment. Astrophotography and astronomy fans, rejoice: Webb’s mirror alignment has now reached its final stage, and this is the final countdown until it’s fully operational.

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Liquid lenses are a thing now, could be used in next space telescope

When it comes to telescopes, gear matters, and so does size. the bigger is better, and NASA could make telescopes up to 100 times bigger than before. Yep, you read that correctly. The secret lies in liquid lenses, and the very first experiment is about to take place aboard the International Space Station.

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Photographer captures ISS astronauts’ spacewalk from his own backyard

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The ISS has been in the center of many photo stories. Sometimes we’d see awesome photos taken from up there, and sometimes the space station itself would make a part of the composition taken from the Earth.

Dr. Sebastian Voltmer pointed his telescope more than 400 km (250 miles) up to the sky, filming the International Space Station in real time. And he didn’t just capture the ISS, but even the spacewalk that was going on while his telescope was pointing up.

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Hubble snaps the most distant star ever seen

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has provided us with many iconic and groundbreaking photos for over 30 years of its time in orbit. And now, the telescope has broken another record. Hubble has snapped the furthest star we have ever seen to date. According to Nasa, it existed “only” one billion years after the big bang.

This discovery is groundbreaking for several reasons. It’s not only the furthest star Hubble has snapped s far. it’s also the smallest object it has ever seen at such a great distance.

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James Webb Space Telescope exceeds expectation after finished mirror alignment

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has finished the fifth stage of its mirror alignment, and everything went well. In fact, it went so well that the telescope has even exceeded NASA’s expectations. Judging from the latest results, JWST will be able to meet or even exceed the goals scientists have set for it.

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The Dragonfly Telephoto Array is expanding to have 168 Canon 400mm f/2.8L IS USM II lenses pointed at the sky

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Project Dragonfly, designed by a team from Yale University and the University of Toronto in 2013 is an attempt to capture the darkest parts of the sky that are so faint that they’ve managed to escape the gaze of more conventional telescopes – even the really huge ones. The design was built using an array of 3 Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM II lenses to begin with in what they called the Dragonfly Telephoto Array.

It was expanded to 10 lenses and in 2015, Canon supplied 40 more EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM II lenses to the team, bringing their total up to 48 in two 24-lens units. Now, with some more help from Canon, the team is going to put together four more of the Dragonfly Telephoto Array units for a total of 168 400mm f/2.8 lenses pointed towards the sky to capture the darkest galaxies in the universe.

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Astrophotography setups for all budgets: from $100 to $10,000

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Photography can be an expensive hobby, but astrophotography raises it to a whole new level. However, if you’re ready to invest some time into DIY builds, you can take some neat astrophotos with only a $100 investment. Of course, you can go way beyond that, depending on your needs, skill, and of course – your budget. Want to invest $100? Good. Want to go all-in and spend $10,000 on gear? Also good – Nico Carver of Nebula Photos has you covered in all situations. In this video, he shows you five different astrophotography setups and the photos you can get with each.

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Hubble is back: Here are two new photos it took

On 13 June 2021, the Hubble Space Telescope’s payload computer unexpectedly came to a halt. After more than a month of hard work to bring it back, the team has succeeded and our “window to the universe” is back in business. It even took its first two photos since the repair, and NASA shared them with the world to celebrate Hubble’s great comeback.

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This insane timelapse shows the volatility of the Sun’s surface over a 10 hour period

Getting a decent photograph of the sun which shows the incredible level of normally invisible detail of its surface is extremely difficult. Shooting a whole mess of them over the course of 10 hours and turn them into a cohesive timelapse is downright impossible for most of us. But for astrophotographer Deddy Dayag, it’s a passion he’s been pursuing for a while now.

Deddy regularly posts his new work to YouTube and the results are just gorgeous. Deddy spoke with DIYP to tell us more about the gear he uses to shoot the timelapses and in particular his latest video, which offers a stunningly unique insight into the sun’s surface activity.

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