Astro-photography can range from a steady hand holding a camera phone against a telescope's eyepiece to extremely technical sessions that span multiple nights capturing data. The image above was taken by Peter Lipscomb, from his driveway in Santa Fe. His 76mm Takahashi refractor logged more than ten hours in the making of this color composite image of the Orion Nebula. See the hunter for yourself by looking low in the western sky just after dark, as this will be the last time he’s visible until autumn.
The Earth blasts through a debris field left by Halley’s Comet on May 6 as the Eta Aquarid meteor shower hits its peak. On May 8, Jupiter makes its closest approach to Earth for the year and will be bright and visible all night long.