Enjoy a video of some of January’s deep-sky photos and see more 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 January 2025 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 the Tadpole Nebula on January 4, 2025. Steven wrote: “IC 410, the Tadpole Nebula, is a region of ionized hydrogen gas spanning over 100 light-years across. It’s formed by the stellar winds of the open star cluster NGC 1893 embedded within. It is 12,400 light-years away, located in the constellation Auriga.” Beautiful capture. Thank you, Steven!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured IC 2177, the Seagull Nebula, on January 6, 2025. Andy wrote: “The Seagull Nebula in Monoceros (wings below and head above). Two weeks ago I did not realize this rather large nebula even existed. Where I live I have had a lot of clouds. It took 3 or 4 days to get my 41 exposures. It sure was worth it!” Thank you, Andy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | George Tzellos in Athens, Greece, captured reflection nebula CED 51 on January 18, 2025. George wrote: “CED 51 is a blue reflection nebula embedded in ionized hydrogen gas, which is part of the Lambda Orionis ring in the Orion constellation. I captured the exposures between January 3 and 18.” Thank you, George!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured the Horsehead Nebula in the constellation Orion on January 18, 2024. Jeremy wrote: “I mapped the data for each band based on the popular Hubble color palette.” Thank you, Jeremy!
The Monkey Head Nebula
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Egidio Vergani in Milan, Italy, captured NGC 2174, the Monkey Head Nebula in Orion, on January 2, 2025. Egidio wrote: “The NGC 2174 nebula has a very particular shape. It shows the vague appearance of a monkey’s head seen in profile. In reality this celestial object, located about 6,400 light-years from us, is an area of star formation. The cloud of gas – mainly hydrogen – and dust contain some young, very bright stars. It is precisely their ultraviolet radiation that illuminates the nebula. I took the photo from the polluted sky of Milan with approximately 15 hours of exposure.” Thank you, Egidio!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Emmanuel Delgadillo in Jalisco, Mexico, captured the Monkey Head Nebula in Orion on January 1, 2025. Thank you, Emmanuel!
Deep-sky photos of the wonderful Rosette Nebula
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mohammed Abdallah in Suez, Egypt, captured these 3 filtered views of the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros on January 4, 2025. Mohammed wrote: “It was fun to create the color mapping for hydrogen-alpha and oxygen III. Taken from my backyard in Suez, Egypt.” Thank you, Mohammed!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured the Rosette Nebula on January 25, 2025. Andy wrote: “I have taken 82 10-minute photos over the last 2 nights. Rosette is big and bright. And the results show it.” Thank you, Andy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, captured the Rosette Nebula on January 24, 2025. Steven wrote: “The Rosette Nebula, Caldwell 49, is a large spherical HII region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity. The stars of the cluster were formed from the nebula’s matter. The cluster and nebula are 5,000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 130 light-years in diameter.” Thank you, Steven!
A supernova remnant
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured Messier 1, a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus, on January 18, 2025. Jeremy wrote: “First nebula of the year! M1, the Crab Nebula.” Thank you, Jeremy!
A star cluster
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Scott Smith in Palmetto, Florida, captured a star cluster on January 5, 2025. Scott wrote: “NGC 2169 is an open cluster in Orion. This asterism is nicknamed ‘The 37 Cluster’ due to its striking resemblance to the numerals ’37.’ Can you see it? Once you do, the 37 really stands out. Hint: Tilt your head to the left.” Thank you, Scott!
And a distant galaxy
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kris Hazelbaker in Grangeville, Idaho, captured galaxy IC 342, in the constellation Camelopardalis, on January 26, 2025. Kris wrote: “The Hidden Galaxy, IC342. The dust clouds between this galaxy and us make it less obvious in the sky. Without them, it would be visible to the unaided eye. This is 9.5 hours of exposures.” Thank you, Kris!
Bottom line: Enjoy this gallery of deep-sky photos for January 2025 from our EarthSky community. If you have a great photo to share, send it in, too. We love to see them!
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Armando Caussade
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About the Author:
Armando is known primarily as an astronomy educator, after 30+ years of extensive public outreach and 10 years teaching in colleges. As one of only a handful of science communicators in Puerto Rico during Comet Halley’s last visit, he assumed a pioneering role starting in 1985 when science was just beginning to enter the collective mindset. Over the years, his work as a teacher, speaker and writer, inspired people to pursue interests in science and brought enduring change to Puerto Rican culture. After being accepted into the 2014–2015 Antarctic season of PolarTREC, Armando was assigned to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where in 2015 he successfully conducted 10 days of work at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. His affiliations include Ana G. Méndez University, Cupey campus (2014 to 2021), the University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla campus (2015 to 2017), NASA JPL’s Solar System Ambassadors (2004 to 2006), and NASA Space Grant (2017 to 2019) where he served as an affiliate representative.
