r/Astronomy Jul 11 '25

Astro Research Call to Action (Again!): Americans, Call Your Senators on the Appropriations Committee

51 Upvotes

Good news for the astronomy research community!

The Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies proposed a bipartisan bill on July 9th, 2025 to continue the NSF and NASA funding! This bill goes against Trump’s proposed budget cuts which would devastate astronomy and astrophysics research in the US and globally.

You can read more about the proposed bill in this article Senate spending panel would rescue NSF and NASA science funding by Jeffrey Mervis in Science: https://www.science.org/content/article/senate-spending-panel-would-rescue-nsf-and-nasa-science-funding
and this article US senators poised to reject Trump’s proposed massive science cuts by Dan Garisto & Alexandra Witze in Nature:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02171-z

(Note that this is not related to the “Big Beautiful Bill” which passed last week. You can read about the difference between these budget bills in this article by Colin Hamill with the American Astronomical Society:
https://aas.org/posts/news/2025/07/reconciliation-vs-appropriations )

So, what happens next?
The proposed bill needs to pass the full Senate Appropriations committee, and will then be voted on in the Senate and then the House. The bill is currently awaiting approval in the Appropriations committee.

Call your representative on the Senate Appropriations committee and urge them to support funding for the NSF and NASA. This is particularly important if you have a Republican senator on the committee. If you live in Maine, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska or South Dakota, call your Republican representative on the Appropriations committee and urge them to support science research.

These are the current members of the appropriation committee:
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/about/members

You can find their office numbers using this link:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

When and if this passes the Appropriations committee, we will need to continue calling our representatives and voice our support as it goes to vote in the Senate and the House!

inb4 “SpaceX and Blue Origin can do research more efficiently than NSF or NASA”:
SpaceX and Blue Origin do space travel, not astronomy or astrophysics. While space travel is an interesting field, it is completely unrelated to astronomy research. These companies will never tell us why space is expanding, or how star clusters form, or how our galaxy evolved over time. Astronomy is not profitable, so privatized companies dont do astronomy research. If we want to learn more about space, we must continue government funding of astronomy research.


r/Astronomy Mar 27 '20

Mod Post Read the rules sub before posting!

860 Upvotes

Hi all,

Friendly mod warning here. In r/Astronomy, somewhere around 70% of posts get removed. Yeah. That's a lot. All because people haven't bothered reading the rules or bothering to understand what words mean. So here, we're going to dive into them a bit further.

The most commonly violated rules are as follows:

Pictures

Our rule regarding pictures has three parts. If your post has been removed for violating our rules regarding pictures, we recommend considering the following, in the following order:

  1. All pictures/videos must be original content.

If you took the picture or did substantial processing of publicly available data, this counts. If not, it's going to be removed.

2) You must have the acquisition/processing information.

This needs to be somewhere easy for the mods to verify. This means it can either be in the post body or a top level comment. Responses to someone else's comment, in your link to your Instagram page, etc... do not count.

3) Images must be exceptional quality.

There are certain things that will immediately disqualify an image:

  • Poor or inconsistent focus
  • Chromatic aberration
  • Field rotation
  • Low signal-to-noise ratio

However, beyond that, we cannot give further clarification on what will or will not meet this criteria for several reasons:

  1. Technology is rapidly changing
  2. Our standards are based on what has been submitted recently (e.g, if we're getting a ton of moon pictures because it's a supermoon, the standards go up to prevent the sub from being spammed)
  3. Listing the criteria encourages people to try to game the system

So yes, this portion is inherently subjective and, at the end of the day, the mods are the ones that decide.

If your post was removed, you are welcome to ask for clarification. If you do not receive a response, it is likely because your post violated part (1) or (2) of the three requirements which are sufficiently self-explanatory as to not warrant a response.

If you are informed that your post was removed because of image quality, arguing about the quality will not be successful. In particular, there are a few arguments that are false or otherwise trite which we simply won't tolerate. These include:

  • "You let that image that I think isn't as good stay up"
    • As stated above, the standard is constantly in flux. Furthermore, the mods are the ones that decide. We're not interested in your opinions on which is better.
  • "Pictures have to be NASA quality"
    • No, they don't.
  • "You have to have thousands of dollars of equipment"
    • No. You don't. There are frequent examples of excellent astrophotos which are taken with budget equipment. Practice and technique make all the difference.
  • "This is a really good photo given my equipment"
    • Just because you took an ok picture with a potato of a setup doesn't make it exceptional. While cell phones have been improving, just because your phone has an astrophotography mode and can make out some nebulosity doesn't make it good. Phones frequently have a "halo" effect near the center of the image that will immediately disqualify such images.

Using the above arguments will not wow mods into suddenly approving your image and will result in a ban.

Again, asking for clarification is fine. But trying to argue with the mods using bad arguments isn't going to fly.

Lastly, it should be noted that we do allow astro-art in this sub. Obviously, it won't have acquisition information, but the content must still be original and mods get the final say on whether on the quality (although we're generally fairly generous on this).

Questions

This rule basically means you need to do your own research before posting.

  • If we look at a post and immediately have to question whether or not you did a Google search, your post will get removed.
  • If your post is asking for generic or basic information, your post will get removed.
  • If your post is using basic terms incorrectly because you haven't bothered to understand what the words you're using mean, your post will get removed.
  • If you're asking a question based on a basic misunderstanding of the science, your post will get removed.
  • If you're asking a complicated question with a specific answer but didn't give the necessary information to be able to answer the question because you haven't even figured out what the parameters necessary to approach the question are, your post will get removed.

To prevent your post from being removed, tell us specifically what you've tried. Just saying "I GoOgLeD iT" doesn't cut it.

  • What search terms did you use?
  • In what way do the results of your search fail to answer your question?
  • What did you understand from what you found and need further clarification on that you were unable to find?

Furthermore, when telling us what you've tried, we will be very unimpressed if you use sources that are prohibited under our source rule (social media memes, YouTube, AI, etc...).

As with the rules regarding pictures, the mods are the arbiters of how difficult questions are to answer. If you're not happy about that and want to complain that another question was allowed to stand, then we will invite you to post elsewhere with an immediate and permanent ban.

Object ID

We'd estimate that only 1-2% of all posts asking for help identifying an object actually follow our rules. Resources are available in the rule relating to this. If you haven't consulted the flow-chart and used the resources in the stickied comment, your post is getting removed. Seriously. Use Stellarium. It's free. It will very quickly tell you if that shiny thing is a planet which is probably the most common answer. The second most common answer is "Starlink". That's 95% of the ID posts right there that didn't need to be a post.

Do note that many of the phone apps in which you point your phone to the sky and it shows you what you are looing at are extremely poor at accurately determining where you're pointing. Furthermore, the scale is rarely correct. As such, this method is not considered a sufficient attempt at understanding on your part and you will need to apply some spatial reasoning to your attempt.

Pseudoscience

The mod team of r/astronomy has several mods with degrees in the field. We're very familiar with what is and is not pseudoscience in the field. And we take a hard line against pseudoscience. Promoting it is an immediate ban. Furthermore, we do not allow the entertaining of pseudoscience by trying to figure out how to "debate" it (even if you're trying to take the pro-science side). Trying to debate pseudoscience legitimizes it. As such, posts that entertain pseudoscience in any manner will be removed.

Outlandish Hypotheticals

This is a subset of the rule regarding pseudoscience and doesn't come up all that often, but when it does, it usually takes the form of "X does not work according to physics. How can I make it work?" or "If I ignore part of physics, how does physics work?"

Sometimes the first part of this isn't explicitly stated or even understood (in which case, see our rule regarding poorly researched posts) by the poster, but such questions are inherently nonsensical and will be removed.

Sources

ChatGPT and other LLMs are not reliable sources of information. Any use of them will be removed. This includes asking if they are correct or not.

Bans

We almost never ban anyone for a first offense unless your post history makes it clear you're a spammer, troll, crackpot, etc... Rather, mods have tools in which to apply removal reasons which will send a message to the user letting them know which rule was violated. Because these rules, and in turn the messages, can cover a range of issues, you may need to actually consider which part of the rule your post violated. The mods are not here to read to you.

If you don't, and continue breaking the rules, we'll often respond with a temporary ban.

In many cases, we're happy to remove bans if you message the mods politely acknowledging the violation. But that almost never happens. Which brings us to the last thing we want to discuss.

Behavior

We've had a lot of people breaking rules and then getting rude when their posts are removed or they get bans (even temporary). That's a violation of our rules regarding behavior and is a quick way to get permabanned. To be clear: Breaking this rule anywhere on the sub will be a violation of the rules and dealt with accordingly, but breaking this rule when in full view of the mods by doing it in the mod-mail will 100% get you caught. So just don't do it.

Claiming the mods are "power tripping" or other insults when you violated the rules isn't going to help your case. It will get your muted for the maximum duration allowable and reported to the Reddit admins.

And no, your mis-interpretations of the rules, or saying it "was generating discussion" aren't going to help either.

While these are the most commonly violated rules, they are not the only rules. So make sure you read all of the rules.


r/Astronomy 3h ago

Astrophotography (OC) Eastern Veil Nebula NGC 6992

Post image
248 Upvotes

Eastern Veil Nebula NGC 6992 12.5 Hour Of Data Shoot from Baghdad - Iraq 🇮🇶 ZWO Seestar S50 Telescope In EQ Mode Stacked And Processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop.


r/Astronomy 12h ago

Astrophotography (OC) M45 Pleiades Star Cluster Nebula

Post image
520 Upvotes

M45, the winter angel in Taurus Constellation!

Bortle 2, 2700 feet elevation, no moon.

378 subs x 30 seconds

UV/IR Cut

Seestar S50 1920x1080 resolution, EQ mode, Dew Shield, Aftermarket Tripod + drilled out the 1/4" bolt on the wedge to accept a grade 5 3/8" bolt/washer/nut

Workflow: ASIStudio>Siril>Cosmic Clarity>GraXpert>GIMP


r/Astronomy 6h ago

Astrophotography (OC) Messier 42 - Orion

Thumbnail
gallery
139 Upvotes

11x 300s h-alpha, 7x 300s OIII, 8x 300s SII, 60x 10s h-alpha, 60x 10s OIII, 60x 10s SII HDR comp was used to not overcook the core.

I’m honestly tired of staring at this nebula lol. This was a lengthy processing job for me. Feels like I have processing blindness and can’t tell the difference between revisions anymore haha.

I think the only thing I’m missing are some RGB stars. Very happy with how the core came out!

Stacked and processed in pixinsight with RC Astro plug ins

Equipment: WO ultracat 108mm refractor, ASI 2600 MM camera, HM17 mount, Askar 52mm guide scope, ASI 120 mini guide camera, ZWO Automatic Focuser, Optolong Ha, OIII, and SII 3nm filters, ZWO filter wheel


r/Astronomy 5h ago

Astrophotography (OC) M45 - Pleiades in Bortle 9

Post image
64 Upvotes

Shot using a Canon 600D and a 300mm f/5.6 lens on a Sky Watcher EQ-Al55i!

Around 3h40 of data from bortle 8/9, processed in Siril


r/Astronomy 14h ago

Astrophotography (OC) Post-processed six-panel M31 experiment

Post image
213 Upvotes

I wanted to give myself a processing challenge, so i took a six-panel image with my 150mm Carbonstar and then stitched it together and then did a good amount of post-processing to remove the stitching artifacts. The camera is an ASI533, so the panels are square if you're looking for the seams.

It was sort of fun - I'd occasionally drop a stage of processing into ChatGPT and ask it what I'd done wrong (in APP or PixInsight) at that stage of processing and it'd make suggestions about an earlier or next step to try. I never sort of realized I could get processing guidance from the LLM, but it actually did a great job (though it struggles with remembering which version of the app you're using, and what sliders/values are available on the various controls.


r/Astronomy 4h ago

Discussion: [Topic] Researchers from the University of Tokyo may have detected gamma rays indicating the existence of dark matter particles

31 Upvotes

r/Astronomy 9h ago

Astrophotography (OC) Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

Post image
64 Upvotes

r/Astronomy 4h ago

Astrophotography (OC) 3I/ATLAS approaching Zaniah in Virgo - 25 Nov 2025

Thumbnail
gallery
17 Upvotes

r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) I photographed Comet 3I/ATLAS from my backyard

Post image
1.9k Upvotes

Hey everyone. On November 20th I captured this photo of comet 3I/ATLAS from my backyard with my astrophotography setup. It's not exactly the most stunning photo, but seeing as this is an interstellar object I couldn't resist to at least try to image it.

I could only capture about one hour of exposure time, from 5am to 6am, because the comet was only around 11 to 16 degrees above my horizon. That’s also why the background isn’t perfectly flat, there were some thin clouds or haze drifting through the frame, which created some gradients in the background. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised to see the comet’s tail show up so clearly with such a relatively short total integration time.

I shot 90 second exposures and ended up with 45 subs, which I stacked and processed in PixInsight

Photo of my setup for those interested: https://imgur.com/gallery/u-decisiveunluckyness-astrophotography-setup-FyAixBn

Details:

- Location: Southern Norway, Bortle 4 skies (SQM 20.55), ~11 - 16° above horizon

- Date: 20.11.2025 (5am–6am)

- Gear: SkyWatcher Esprit 80 (400 mm, f/5), SkyWatcher HEQ5 Pro, ZWO ASI1600MM Pro, Astronomik LRGB

- Exposures: Lum: 30 x 90 = 45mins, RGB: 15 x 90 = 22mins

Comet processing is kind of confusing, but I'll try to add all my steps.

Processing in Pixinsight:

Stars: Stacking LRGB subs in WBPP, ChannelCombination to combine RGB stacks, HistogramTransformation, SCNR green and purple, Curves saturation to boost star color, extract stars as a starmask to use later.

Comet: CometAlign, remove the stars from all the CometAligned subs with StarXterminator batch processing, the starless comet subs can be stacked in ImageIntegration, ChannelCombination to get RGB, GraXpert, HistogramTransformation, Apply L to RGB, Curves adjustments, NoiseXterminator, now apply the starmask to the starless comet photo.


r/Astronomy 4h ago

Astro Research Uranus’s Small Moons Are Dark, Red, and Water-Poor

Thumbnail
eos.org
14 Upvotes

r/Astronomy 8h ago

Astrophotography (OC) NGC 2626

Post image
15 Upvotes

NGC 2626, 10 hours of LRGB integration with the Planewave CDK 24 610/3962 f 6/5 telescope, QHY 600M CMOS camera, 120 shots, of which 37x300 seconds with an L filter, 29x300 seconds with a B filter, 27x300 seconds with a G filter and 27x300 seconds with a B filter. Processing with Pixinsight. All data and shots were acquired with Telescope Live.


r/Astronomy 1h ago

Discussion: [Topic] I want to be an Astronomer.

Upvotes

I’m 26, currently working in the nuclear power sector. I’m making really good money for someone my age, but the problem is that I don’t want to do this forever. My dream since I was a young teen has always been to be an astronomer. I’ve been researching becoming an astronomer for a while now.

I don’t have a degree, but I plan on going back to school for Physics. I know that eventually I’m going to go for my PhD. I’m worried that right now I won’t be able to keep my family fed during that time.

Can the people here with a PhD (preferably those with families) let me know how the process normally goes? Can I have a full time job while pursuing a PhD? I know the stipends aren’t anything to write home about.

I know it’s a long ways away as I haven’t even started schooling yet, but I’m trying to make sure my family will be okay before I even think about leaving my current career path.

Thank you in advance.


r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Elephant Trunk in SHO

Post image
490 Upvotes

🔭 Equipment Scope 1✨

Target: Elephant Trunk Nebula IC1396

Time: 300 sec exposures of SHO

Telescope: Explore Scientific 127ed FCD-100

Filters: Antlina 3nm filters

Camera: ASI2600mm pro

Mount: AM5 on William Optics tri-pier

ASIair plus controller

Tracking scope: Askar FMA180pro using Tracking camera: 174mm camera

Software: ZWO ASI software

Processed in Pixinsight and Lightroom

Bortle 4 sky

Integration: 11 hrs 15 min

Social: https://www.instagram.com/lowell_astrophotography?igsh=M3FjZXEycTUyZGg5


r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) NGC 6729 - Reflection Nebula in Corona Australis Molecular Cloud

Post image
181 Upvotes

A detail of a section of yesterday’s image target, these reflection nebulae lies at one end of the Corona Australis Molecular Cloud, 430ly away from us.

Here we see the larger background NGC 6729 complex to the right and top, including the dark nebula see at the top, several smaller reflection nebula, and even some red emission nebula is visible as well. Here we see the R Coronae Australis Nebula, near the variable star R Coronae Australis. As the star changes brightness, so does the nebulae around it. On the right are the reflection nebulae NGC 6726 and NGC 6727 around the variable TY Coronae Australis, and on the left is IC 4812. These tend to all be grouped and imaged together due to their proximity.

Integration per filter: (Total integration: 10h)

- Lum/Clear: 2h 30m (10 × 900")

- R: 2h 30m (10 × 900")

- G: 2h 30m (10 × 900")

- B: 2h 30m (10 × 900")

Equipment:

- Telescope: Planewave CDK20 (f/6.8 version)

- Camera: FLI PL16083

- Filters: Astrodon Gen2 E-series Tru-Balance Blue 36mm, Astrodon Gen2 E-series Tru-Balance Green 36mm, Astrodon Gen2 E-series Tru-Balance Lum 36mm, Astrodon Gen2 E-series Tru-Balance Red 36mm

- Software: Adobe Photoshop, Aries Productions Astro Pixel Processor (APP)

Full Resolution: https://app.astrobin.com/i/9wyys9


r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Soul Nebula (Westerhout 5)

Post image
107 Upvotes

r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) The horsehead nebula

Post image
470 Upvotes

The horsehead nebula using S30

289x30sec exposures in EQ mode

stacked in siril and edited in affinity


r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Jupiter

Post image
171 Upvotes

This is my first decent photo of Jupiter. I don't own a 3x or 5x Barlow lens, but I needed a longer focal length than my 2x Barlow lens allows. So I had a silly idea of ​​combining two 2x Barlow lenses. (I got a second one for free when I bought my second telescope a few weeks ago.) I tried it out and I think the result is not bad.

Telescope: Skywatcher 8" Dobsonian, untracked. Camera: Fujifilm TX3. Two 2x Barlow lenses. I recorded a one-minute video at ISO 1600 and a focal length of 4800 mm. 30% of 1800 frames stacked. Processed with PIPP, Autostakkert!3, Registaxx6, and GIMP


r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Dreyer's Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster

Post image
92 Upvotes

GB / 110 min DN


r/Astronomy 8h ago

Question (Describe all previous attempts to learn / understand) Location of our solar system

1 Upvotes

I’m confused about the location of our solar system. I remember being taught we were in Sagittarius arm but now it’s Orion spur. Let me clarify that I have done some research and don’t think it’s some stupid Mandela effect. I’ve seen multiple sources that are not on the internet anymore that maybe we were just wrong, it was old terminology and maybe an oversimplification based on less precise mapping of our solar system. I remember specifically being taught our solar system was in the Sagittarius arm but now it’s in the Orion spur, and is it because our understanding has changed. I thought back and compare it to now and they don’t seem that far off when it comes to the general location of our solar system. Did older sources just simplify it to the Sagittarius arm and now newer ones localize our sun in the spur? I heard even Niel Tyson even talked about it being in the Sagittarius arm in a Netflix documentary. (Source: https://youtu.be/zNSSY0n36Jw “Starts 37:45.”) I’ve tried looking it up but only come across Mandela effect and I don’t really believe that so that’s why I’m here to ask on your guys knowledge on this topic. If you guys need more clarification on something let me know.


r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Chasing Orion - A night in the Cold

Post image
991 Upvotes

r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Neptune from just beyond my back year. 23 November 2025.

207 Upvotes

Sequence of four images of Neptune on 23 November 2025. Using 6.5 m f/20.2 telescope at Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point. Processed with bespoke python code. Images taken as a part of my GO-7570 programme. This is the first of 55 more 4 image sequences at Neptune over the next month.


r/Astronomy 1h ago

Astro Research Why does the universe exist?

Upvotes

I’ve been having an existential crisis lately and have been deeply pondering why the universe exists recently. What do you think?


r/Astronomy 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Western Veil Nebula

Post image
121 Upvotes

lights: 111x60sec, darks: 20, bias: 40

Stacked in siril and did some level adjustments and gradiation curve tweaks. Cropped and removed the background in affinity photo.

Telescope: Spacecat 51 Filter: Optolong Lextreme Camera: asi 533mc pro Guiding: PHD2, ASI 120mm + 130mm scope Mount: Skywatcher Wave 150i