Backyard astronomy photography is probably one of the most difficult types of photography that can be undertaken by the amateur photographer. It is also one of the most equipment intensive and expensive types of photography.

Luckily for us, some amateur photographers still take the time to equip and train themselves and so are able to show us remarkable work like the astronomy photos below. But it is not an easy thing to do this type of photography. In fact a quick look at the Flickr pools available to photographers of astronomical images quickly shows that this niche requires a lot of dedication and practice – not many images turn out as well as those below!

Below we have found 13 stunning examples of astrophotography (astronomy photos) taken by backyard astronomers – of stars and galaxies, that we think are some of the most beautiful examples of what can be done with a telescope, camera and some know-how from anyone’s backyard. Please feel free to link to any other examples of great backyard astronomy photography in the comments.

[The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae. Taken with a SBIG ST-L-4K 3 CCD Camera.]

[The Pinwheel Galaxy.]

[Comet 17P/Holmes with Tail. Taken with a SBIG ST-L-4K 3 CCD Camera]

[M81, M82, NGC 3077 Galaxies. Taken with a SBIG ST-L-4K 3 CCD Camera]

[The Milky Way. Taken on a DSLR]

[The Great Orion Nebula (M42). Taken with a Pentax K200D]

[Andromeda. Taken with a Canon 350D.]

[The Rosetta Nebula. Taken with a Canon 350D]

[The Jellyfish Nebula. Taken with a SBIG STL-4020M]

[The Orion Nebula. Take with a Canon 300D]

[The Eagle Nebula.]

[Messier 74.]

[The Whirpool Galaxy. Taken with a Nikon D70]

Other Astronomy Image Photography Resources:

• The Flickr Astronomy Pool
• The Flickr Astro Photo Insight Pool
• An Astrophotography Primer
• Starting Out in Astrophotography (By SkyNews)
• Photographing the Milky Way with a Standard DSLR Camera