View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Robert Pettengill in Austin, Texas (and 2 other locations), captured the Rosette nebula in Monoceros on December 22, 2024. Robert wrote: “A long-exposure image of the Rosette Nebula on 5 nights in December from Tucson, Austin and Bad Wolf Ranch.” Beautiful! Thank you, Robert. See more deep-sky photos from December below.
Stunning deep-sky photos from our community
The EarthSky community has many talented astrophotographers who capture stunning images of the deep sky. We gathered some of our favorite deep-sky photos we received in December 2024 for you to enjoy. Do you have some of your own deep-sky images to share? You can submit them to us here. We love to see them!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, captured Thor’s Helmet on December 30, 2024. Steven wrote: “Thor’s Helmet is an emission nebula that glows from the energetic winds of Wolf-Rayet star WR7. It resides 12,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major, the larger of Orion’s 2 hunting dogs.” Thank you, Steven!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured IC443, the Jellyfish nebula in the constellation Gemini, on December 7, 2024. Andy wrote: “I had never read about or seen pics of this nebula. I was just wandering around in Stellarium and said ‘Wow, that looks interesting.’ And so it is. This is a supernova remnant from 30,000-35,000 years ago. It is 5,000 light-years away. There is so much cool stuff in space. Doesn’t the bright red part look like a jellyfish?” Thank you, Andy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Shaurya Salunkhe in Pune, Maharashtra, India, caught Messier 42, the Orion nebula, on December 7, 2024. Shaurya wrote: “The Orion Nebula, located approximately 1,344 light-years away in Orion’s Sword. It is one of the brightest nebulae visible in the night sky. It is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth.” Thank you, Shaurya!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured NGC 1333, the Embryo nebula, on December 29, 2024. Andy wrote: “Embryo Nebula, located in Perseus, 980 to 1,140 light-years away. Notice the dark nebulae (upper right and lower left).” Thank you, Andy!
Planetary nebulae
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, captured the Bear Claw nebula on December 3, 2024. Steven wrote: “The Bear Claw nebula is a large but very faint planetary nebula in Cassiopeia. Astronomer Stewart Sharpless first discovered this nebula in 1959 and included it in his catalog of HII regions under the name of Sh2-200.” Thank you, Steven!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Scott Smith in Palmetto, Florida, captured the Helix nebula in Aquarius on December 19, 2024. Scott wrote: “The Helix nebula, often called the Eye of God, is a planetary nebula that’s the result of a dying star. The Helix nebula is the remains of a star that’s nearing the end of its life and has blown off its outer layers of gas. The remaining core of the star is a white dwarf, which is a small, hot, dense remnant.” Thank you, Scott!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured galaxies Messier 81 and Messier 82 in Ursa Major on December 29, 2024. Andy wrote: “These 2 galaxies, while not large objects (like Andromeda), are bright and thus relatively easy to photograph, plus the difference between the 2 makes it all the more interesting.” Thank you, Andy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mohammed Abdallah in Suez, Egypt, captured the Andromeda galaxy on December 16, 2024. Mohammed wrote: “Andromeda, M31, our largest neighbor galaxy, shot from my backyard in Bortle 8, Suez. I reprocessed this shot many times but the end result is quite satisfying.” Thank you, Mohammed!
And two supernovae in distant galaxies
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, used a large remote telescope in Utah to make these images of Supernova 2024aeee and Supernova 2024aecx on December 19, 2024. Eliot wrote: “Two nice supernovae were discovered during the Cold Full Moon period. Both visible in the Northern Hemisphere. SN2024aeee in galaxy NGC 2523 was discovered December 17, 2024 (left), and Supernova 2024aecx in galaxy NGC 3521 was discovered December 16, 2024 (right).” Thank you, Eliot!
Bottom line: Enjoy this gallery of deep-sky photos for December 2024 from our EarthSky community. If you have a great photo to share, send it in, too. We love to see them!
