We’ve long enjoyed images of space and snapshots of the vastly intriguing Universe that lays around the planet that we call home. NASA is regularly showing off awesome imagery it has captured with the likes of theHubble Space Telescopeor the various space-faring mission to Mars and Jupiter.
It’s also possible to capture your own images from home. If you have the right equipment, a lot of patience and the know-how, but that’s not the only way.
Stellinais a smart telescope that makes capturing views of the Universe around us really simple. Load up the app, click on the spot you want to see and this amazing bit of kit does all the work for you.
We were asked to take a look at the Stellina observation station to see what it could do and we couldn’t resist.
This simple-looking box isn’t a telescope in the traditional sense, but instead the “perfect hybrid” between a smart telescope and a camera.
You don’t need to know what the constellations are in the sky before you start using it as the system does all the work for you.
Choose a constellation, galaxy, cluster or nebula from the app and Stellina automatically finds that object, focuses on it and then proceeds to collect imagery while stacking images to create the final result. With a long exposure, you may capture some incredible views. We’ve collected some of the best we managed for you to enjoy.
Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula has been famously and magnificently photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, but we’re pretty pleased with how this image came out.
The Eagle Nebula is located about 5,700 light-years away and includes the famous Pillars of Creation - the whisps of interstellar gas and dust that you can see in the centre of the image.
This photo took 200 images stacked over a 30-minute period to capture and is an excellent example of what Stellina can do.
Bubble Nebula
This is NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, it’s a brilliant emission nebula which if you look closely resembles a bubble (hence the name). That bubble is formed by a stellar wind created by a young nearby star.
It’s said to be somewhere between 7 and 11,000 light-years from Earth. So pretty incredible that we managed to take this image from our back garden.
The image we took here was taken over an hour-long period with 51 images stacked to create this result.
Bode’s Galaxy
Bode’s Galaxy (aka M81) was originally spotted by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in 1774. It’s roughly 11.6 million light-years away from Earth but is one of the brightest galaxies that’s visible in our night’s sky.
The view captured bythe Hubble Telescopeis obviously more impressive, but our photo is neat too. 188 images were taken and stacked to create this image over a 30-minute view time.
Stellina isn’t really designed to take photos of planets. Though you can find them in the app, you will get a warning that the smart telescope is built to capture galleries, nebulae and clusters and will perform best doing so.
That said, we did manage to get this rather niftyimage of the Moonwhen it was shining particularly brightly in the night sky.
Dumbbell Nebula
The Dumbbell Nebula is another body that was discovered a long time ago, with Charles Messier originally spotting it in 1764.
The view you’re seeing is the result of an old star shedding its layers into the surrounding area resulting in a glowing and colourful display.
This nebula is over 1,200 light-years away and yet here we’ve managed to capture it from our home with ease.
Veil Nebula
This is one of the most impressive images we managed to take with the smart telescope.
It takes around an hour to see this view of this area which shows a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.
This impressive nebula is said to be the result of a supernova that was over 20 times larger than our sun and exploded as much as 20,000 years ago.
It was originally spotted by William Herschel in 1784 and now captured by us with just our phone, Stellina and a touch of patience.
Engagement Ring
This is a region known as the Engagement Ring. It’s located about 1,500 light-years from Earth and is home to an incredibly bright star known as HD 83535.
Under the right conditions, the bright star you can see in this image is visible with a large nebula behind it. Unfortunately cloud cover and temperature changes stopped us from getting the full image, but it’s still amazing to see how bright the star is.
Pacman Nebula
This image of the Pacman Nebula was created with 342 images stacked over an hour-long period.
This is an emission nebular which is located in the Milky Way’s Perseus Spiral Arm. It was originally discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard in 1883 but has since acquired the name Pacman Nebula because of its resemblance to the classic arcade game character.
Soul Nebula
This is a view of Westerhout 5, also known as the Soul Nebula. It takes over two hours to get a good view of this region. Which can be tricky with changes in the weather that can happen while Stellina is focussing on the area.
Still, it’s an impressive site considering this emission nebula is located around 7,500 light-years from our home. The faint red tint in the image is from the emissions of hydrogen gas in the region.
The Pleiades is certainly strikingly bright. This view shows a region of space that’s just 410 light-years from Earth with over 800 stars in a close group.
Pleiades also goes by the name the Seven Sisters in reference to a Greek legend around the Titan god Atlas and his daughters.
It was originally seen by Galileo Galilei in 1610 and sketched to show 36 stars in the area. In this photographic form, it certainly shows off some impressively bright stars.
