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GOFlaherty

@goflaherty.bsky.social
320 followers 469 following 444 posts

🛰️ Space nerd🚀

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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Solar eclipse is happening!
Image of solar eclipse.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Astrometry for my Eastern Veil Nebula image.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The Eastern Veil Nebula (NGC 6992) is part of the expanding shockwave from a supernova that exploded ~10,000 years ago. Hydrogen and oxygen emissions reveal its intricate filaments. Approx. 2 hours of 60s sub-exposures. 🔭✨ #Astrophotography #Astronomy #VeilNebula @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social
Eastern Veil Nebula.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Tonight's 40% first quarter Moon, in honour of International Moon Day.
First quarter Moon.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
youtube.com/watch?v=fvsh...
youtube.com
Artemis II astronauts visit ESA's technical centre (ESTEC)
YouTube video by European Space Agency, ESA
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Today marks the anniversary of Apollo 11's historic lunar landing on 20 July 1969—the day humanity first set foot on another world. The UN established International Moon Day to celebrate this achievement and to inspire the peaceful exploration and sustainable use of the Moon.
Moon Day poster
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Reposted by GOFlaherty
Kym @ The Evening Sky Map @skymaps.com · 17/07/2026
🌙 🌟 Over the next few hours the crescent Moon will appear close to the planet Venus, with closest approach at 16h UT on July 17th. The beautiful scene is visible worldwide and is best viewed about an hour after sunset. Simply look up! 🔭 skymaps.com/skycalendar/
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Astrometry for my image of the Western Veil Nebula.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
The Western Veil Nebula (NGC 6960), part of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant, captured over ~5 hours using 60-second sub-exposures with a Seestar S30 in EQ mode. 🔭✨ #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social
Astrophotograph of the Western Veil Nebula showing delicate blue-green oxygen filaments interwoven with red hydrogen emission against a rich star field. Captured with a Seestar S30 over approximately 5 hours in EQ mode.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Out capturing more data for the Western Veil Nebula.
Seestar image capture screen.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Tonight's planned observations. It's nice to have a clear night at last. #astrophotography
List of planned astrophotography targets.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Astrometry of my Whirlpool Galaxy image. Approximately 9 hours of 60 second sub exposures with a Seestar S30 smart telescope in equatorial mode.
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Reposted by GOFlaherty
Astrometry Bot @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Astrometry: RA: 202.47 ° Dec: 47.23 ° Resolution: 1.33 arcsec/pix Objects: NGC 5194, M 51, NGC 5195, IC 4263, Whirlpool Galaxy
Astrometry:
RA: 202.47 °
Dec: 47.23 °
Resolution: 1.33 arcsec/pix
Objects: NGC 5194, M 51, NGC 5195, IC 4263, Whirlpool GalaxyObjects and Information TableSky map - Zoom level 1Sky map - Zoom level 2
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
M51 interacting with NGC 5195. Their gravitational encounter compresses gas and dust, triggering star formation while reshaping M51's spiral arms. Around 31 million light-years away, this pair offers a nearby glimpse of galaxy evolution. #Astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social
Astrophotograph of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and companion galaxy NGC 5195. Bright spiral arms with blue star-forming regions surround a luminous core, while faint tidal material links the interacting galaxies against a dark, star-filled background.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Today's Sun 🌞 with a closeup of its sun spots. Taken from my front driveway on a rare sunny day in Ireland. #Sun #SolarActivity #Solarphotography
Photo of the SunClose up of Sun spots.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Last night's first quarter Moon, imaged from my suburban back garden before I went looking for Deep Space Objects to capture. I can't wait for humans to land on the Moon again in 2028. Go Artemis IV! #Moon #Lunar #LunarPhotography
First Quarter Moon.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Astrometry for my M35 image.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
M35 with the compact background cluster NGC 2158, captured with my Seestar S30 smart telescope. 60 minutes total integration (10s subs, EQ mode) reveals a dense stellar field with natural color variation. @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar #opencluster
Wide-field view of the open star cluster M35, showing a dense scattering of bright blue-white and yellow stars across the frame. A smaller, tighter cluster (NGC 2158) appears nearby as a faint, compact grouping against a dark, lightly textured background sky.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Tonight's waxing crescent Moon.
Thin crescent Moon against a black sky, with the right side illuminated. The sunlit limb shows sharp crater detail and rugged terrain along the terminator, while the rest of the lunar disk fades into shadow.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
M42 (Orion Nebula) captured with a Seestar S30. ~1 hour total integration from 10s sub-exposures. Short subs preserve core detail while stacking reveals faint outer nebulosity. Emission from ionized hydrogen (Hα) and oxygen (OIII) traces active star formation. False color palette. #Astrophotography
Bright emission nebula (Orion Nebula, M42) with a luminous central core surrounded by red and blue gas clouds. Dark dust lanes cut through the nebula, with numerous embedded young stars visible. Dense star field across the background.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Astrometry from my M101 image. It's a busy part of the sky!
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) Seestar S30 (EQ mode) 70 min integration | 60s subs Face-on spiral ~21 million light years distant in Ursa Major. #Astrophotography #M101 #DeepSky #Space
Deep-sky image of M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy), a face-on spiral with a bright central core and faint, extended spiral arms showing patchy star-forming regions, set against a dark starfield with scattered foreground stars.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Happy International Day of Human Space Flight to all my fellow Space nerds!
Poster for International Day of Human Space Flight.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
My second image published in the April 2026 issue of Astronomy Ireland 🌌 Aurora Borealis over Newbridge, Co. Kildare Captured Jan 19, 2026 at 21:53 — Orion watching overhead. Ireland under northern lights… still doesn’t feel real. #Astronomy #Aurora #Ireland #Astrophotography
Aurora photo.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Just got published in Astronomy Ireland magazine 🚀 My image of the Pac-Man Nebula (NGC 281), captured with a Seestar S30 — 64 mins of data bringing out those deep H-alpha reds. Seeing it in print hits different. Backyard astronomy lives on 🌌 #astrophotography #space #NGC281
Pac-Man Nebula (NGC 281), a glowing red cloud of gas surrounded by stars, captured with a Seestar S30.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Tonight's nearly full moon as the crew of Artemis 2 prepare for lift off! Godspeed!
The Moon
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Astrometry for my image of M97.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Seestar S30 observation of planetary nebula M97. ~60 min integration resolves OIII-dominated inner shell (teal) with surrounding Hα emission. Processing kept conservative to preserve photometric integrity and faint structure.
Planetary nebula M97 with teal OIII core and faint red outer shell, surrounded by dense star field; captured with Seestar S30.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
At the vernal equinox, Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun, placing it over the celestial equator. Day and night are nearly equal worldwide. From Ireland, winter constellations set as spring rises. Happy Vernal Equinox 2026! #equinox
Golden equinox sunset over a calm lake with the Milky Way rising overhead and “Happy Vernal Equinox 2026” glowing across a star-filled sky.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Lots of interesting astrometry in my image of the Monkey Head Nebula. It's amazing what one can capture from one's suburban back garden.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
NGC 2175, an H II emission region, shows ionized hydrogen shaped by radiation from embedded young stars. This broadband view resolves diffuse structure and stellar content within a dense Galactic field, captured with a Seestar S30. #astrophotography #astronomy #deepsky #seestar #emissionnebula
NGC 2175 emission nebula with embedded star cluster in a dense Milky Way star field, captured by a Seestar S30.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Leo Triplet (M65, M66, and NGC 3628) captured with a Seestar S30. This wide-field view shows the contrasting structures of two bright spiral galaxies and the edge-on dust lane of NGC 3628 within a dense background star field. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #galaxies #seestar
Three spiral galaxies of the Leo Triplet—two tilted and one edge-on with a dark dust lane—set in a dense star field.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
Castor (α Geminorum), ~51 light-years away in Gemini. What appears to be one star is actually a hierarchical sextuple system: three gravitationally bound binary pairs. The two brightest A-type stars orbit each other every ~467 years. #astrophotography
Bright blue-white star Castor centered in a dense starfield with subtle diffraction spikes and a faint halo.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Out doing what I love, capturing the beauty of the cosmos #astrophotography
Screenshot of an astrophotography app capturing a dense star field, with the faint galaxy NGC 147 circled and labeled near the center while the image is being enhanced during a 39-minute exposure.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
I might actually get the chance to do so imaging tonight!
Screenshot from weather app, showing clear skies tonight.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Thin waxing crescent Moon captured with a Seestar S30. Low solar incidence along the terminator enhances crater rims and highland relief through elongated shadow contrast. Subtle Earthshine is visible on the night side, caused by sunlight reflected from Earth.
Thin waxing crescent Moon with sharp crater detail along the terminator and faint Earthshine visible on the dark side.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Astrometry for my Whirlpool galaxy image. 👍🏻🔭
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
The beginning of astrophotography.
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Reposted by GOFlaherty
ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 12/02/2026
‘Save the best for last 😋’, a little rocky planet discovered by our #ESACheops might think – born later than its gaseous sibling-planets, it might flip our understanding of how planets form upside down. Our full story 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭🧪 #exoplanets #milkyway #planetsci
A planetary system with four planets circling around a star. In the foreground, a large reddish-brown rocky planet with craters is visible. Behind it, there are three smaller planets: one with blue and white colours, another with blue and brown bands, and the third with a rocky surface. In the top right corner of the image, a small but bright red star illuminates the scene, with space dust and distant stars visible in the background.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) and NGC 5195 — 9.35 hours of 1-minute subs with a Seestar S30. Extended integration reveals spiral arm structure, HII regions, and the faint tidal bridge between the interacting pair, set in a dense Milky Way star field. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar
Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and companion NGC 5195 with visible spiral arms and faint tidal bridge, surrounded by a dense field of stars.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Messier 52 (NGC 7654) is a young open cluster in Cassiopeia, ~5,000 light-years away. Roughly 15–20 light-years across, it contains hundreds of stars, including hot B-type members. Captured with 20-second sub-exposures, 73 minutes total integration using a Seestar S30. #astrophotography #astronomy
Dense open cluster Messier 52 (NGC 7654) in Cassiopeia, showing a tight concentration of bright blue-white stars against a darker surrounding star field.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Out under clear skies, imaging the cosmos.
Seestar s30 app screenshot.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Starless view of IC 63 highlighting the hydrogen emission arc and faint surrounding structure. With the stellar field removed, the delicate shape and internal density variations stand out more clearly in this Seestar S30 capture. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar #nebula #emissionnebula
Starless image of IC 63 showing a red crescent-shaped emission nebula with brighter lower arc and faint wisps fading into dark space.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
IC 63 captured with a Seestar S30 using dual-band narrowband filter. Teal–gold color mapping enhances hydrogen emission excited by Gamma Cassiopeiae, tracing how stellar radiation sculpts the surrounding interstellar medium.
Teal-and-gold rendering of IC 63, a faint emission and reflection nebula near Gamma Cassiopeiae, showing a curved cloud of ionized hydrogen against a dense star field.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
IC 63 (the Ghost of Cassiopeia) captured with a Seestar S30. Faint broadband emission shaped by the nearby star Gamma Cassiopeiae, processed conservatively to preserve natural color, star field balance, and real signal near the noise floor. #astrophotography #deepsky @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social
Faint emission nebula IC 63 appears as a ghostly red arc and wisps set within a dense star field in Cassiopeia. A bright blue-white star (Gamma Cassiopeiae) glows at the lower right, illuminating the surrounding hydrogen gas while countless smaller stars fill the dark background.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
I'm out chasing a ghost tonight. IC 63, the Ghost of Cassiopeia Nebula. Wish me luck!
An astrophotographer runs across a rocky mountain ridge at night, camera in hand, chasing a vast, glowing, ghost-shaped nebula stretching across a star-filled sky, while a telescope and lantern glow warmly beside the trail.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Pseudo–Hubble palette view of Orion’s Belt, captured in EQ mode with a Seestar S30. 77 minutes total integration using 10-second subs in mosaic mode, bringing out emission and reflection structure across a wide field. #astrophotography #deepsky #astronomy #seestar #nebula
Wide-field astrophotography image of the Orion’s Belt region in a pseudo–Hubble color palette. A dense star field fills the frame, with the three bright Belt stars standing out amid blue-white and golden stars. Wisps of yellow–gold and teal nebulosity stretch across the lower portion, contrasting against a dark, textured background of faint stars and interstellar dust.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
It looks like I may get clear skies for a few hours this evening. I hope to continue my exploration of DSOs in Cassiopeia.
A stylized night sky shows the W-shaped stars of the Cassiopeia constellation, overlaid with a semi-transparent illustration of a crowned queen seated on an ornate throne, blending myth and astronomy against a dense field of stars and faint Milky Way clouds.
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
rte.ie
Why you should pay attention to the weather in space
Solar flares and geomagnetic storms can have very significant effects on satellites, airplanes and GPS and electrical systems
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GOFlaherty @goflaherty.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Re-edit of my recent capture of NGC 457 (the Owl Cluster), an open cluster in Cassiopeia. Captured with my Seestar. Reduced background stars to emphasise structure, with enhanced stellar colours showing temperature differences among cluster members. #Astrophotography #NGC457 #OpenCluster #Seestar
Astrophotograph of the Owl Cluster (NGC 457) showing two bright central stars and surrounding cluster members with subtle colour differences against a dark background.
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