Deep sky astrophotography has long intrigued me. The targets that can be found in the vastness of space are nothing less than impressive. In this video by Trevor Jones of AstroBackyard, he visits the Texas Star Party and captures something incredible!
Trevor Jones, aka AstroBackyard, travels to Texas to attend the Texas Star Party 2023. After several days their weather threatens to ruin a night of shooting, but they catch a break. The northern skies are clear enough for Jones to find a target, the Pinwheel Galaxy M101. The Pinwheel Galaxy is around 21 million light years away from us here on Earth.
As Jones continues to photograph this galaxy, news around the party begins to spread that there is a newly discovered supernova, which is when a star explodes and creates a huge blast of light. Jones explains that this particular supernova is the closest one to Earth in over a decade and just so happens to be in the galaxy that Jones was already photographing. Jones concedes that while he did not discover the Supernova, he may have been one of the first to capture it.
The image Jones has captured from Earth is truly beautiful, and these kinds of images are always a good reminder of just how vast the universe really is.
