A father-of-three takes spectacular photos of Mars and the Moon utilizing a telescope in his backyard

When you search for on the evening sky out of your backyard, you would possibly see just a few stars should you’re fortunate.

However father-of-three James Flanagan wished a greater view and pointed his ‘center of the street’ telescope into area to get a better look.

Since then, he had seen the lunar mountain vary, a dusty pink floor Mars and swirling nebulae 1000’s of light-years away, taking spectacular photos of all of them.

The novice astronomer stated: “The farthest I’ve seen is the Markarian chain, which is a set of galaxies about 55 million light-years away – so the sunshine that produced this picture disappeared simply after the dinosaurs are extinct.”

He added: “I’ve seen the rings of Saturn, the ice caps of Mars and the mountain ranges on the Moon, all from my backyard.”

Mr Flanagan, who was once a metropolis councillor, additionally photographed the Orion and Dumbbell nebulae – enormous clouds of mud and gasoline in area – the latter of which is 1,360 light-years away.

In our photo voltaic system, he noticed Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and our moon throughout a lunar eclipse – all from his residence in Tankerton, Whitstable.

The previous politician’s love of stargazing started as a baby when he obtained a telescope for his birthday, however his curiosity was rekindled 4 years in the past.

His telescope is provided with two cameras – one for observing the planets and the opposite for observing the nebulae and galaxies additional away.

Mr Flanagan insists that anybody can get into astronomy, as many elements of the cosmos may be seen with out costly package.

He stated: “Astronomy is a pastime that may be loved even and not using a telescope.

“When you simply have binoculars, you may see the 4 major moons of Jupiter, and if in case you have good binoculars, you may even make out the rings of Saturn.

“And should you undergo every month or season, there shall be one thing new to see within the sky.

“For instance, on December 8 there shall be a interval when Mars will seem very near the Moon there are specific developments that I shall be following.’

On Thursday morning, the Pink Planet shall be at opposition – which means will probably be in the other way from the Solar relative to Earth.

It would seem bigger and brighter within the sky as a result of will probably be at its closest level to Earth, about 50 million miles (81 million km) away.

It will present one of the best view for stargazers within the UK Mars this decade, and so they will not even want a telescope.

Coincidentally, at 4.58am GMT on Thursday, Mars will disappear behind the complete moon – an occasion generally known as an occultation – earlier than reappearing at 5.59am GMT.

Due to the orbits of Earth and Mars, opposition happens about each 26 months, however eclipses and oppositions happen collectively a lot much less usually.

Mr Flanagan added: “Taking a look at issues like that is so awe-inspiring that it all the time leaves you questioning what’s our place on this universe?”

However Mr Flanagan is not the one one taking photos of area this month, as NASA has shared a brand new picture of the Eagle Nebula taken by the James Webb House Telescope.

The $10 billion (£7.4 billion) superspace telescope has photographed a particular characteristic of the nebula known as the pillars of creation are finger-like tendrils of gasoline and dirt which are 6,500 light-years away from Earth.

They’re recognized to be an necessary supply of star formation, so the picture additionally exhibits many stars are very younger at just a few 100,000 years outdated.

The pillars had been taken in each near-infrared gentle, which blocks out the brightness of close by stars to indicate swirling mud, and mid-infrared gentle, which renders newly shaped stars orange.

The 2 photographs had been superimposed to provide a spectacular image that captures one of the best of each views, together with the glowing edges of mud the place younger stars are starting to kind.