Vaonis Retrospective 2025: Celebrating a Year of Astrophotography by Our Community
21 Dec. 2025
Throughout 2025, our community captured some of the year’s most remarkable astronomical moments. Here are twelve standout images, one for each month, that resonated with our audience or our team, all taken with Vespera or Hestia.
January 2025 - Andromeda Galaxy, by Ray Young
The Andromeda Galaxy is the Vaonis community’s favorite target and a winter sky classic. This stunning image reveals delicate nebulosity in our neighboring galaxy, made possible by years of stacked data from Vespera owner Ray.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera II
🕘 Total exposure: about 40 hours
✍️ Autre: Processed with PixInsight
📍 Location: United-States
February 2025 - Horsehead Nebula, by Adrien Bougaud
This photo is the winner of a Vaonis community challenge launched by our team and centered on the IC 434 target. The contest featured two categories: images processed on a smartphone, and images processed using more advanced software. Adrien’s photo earned first place in the latter category.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera I
🕘 Total exposure: 2648 x 10s exposures
📍 Location: France
✍️ Comments: Mosaic 2.4° x 2.4° | No filter | Processed with PixInsight
🔎 Learn more
March 2025 - Partial Solar Eclipse, by El Mehdi Essaidi
Hestia is the ideal telescope for capturing solar eclipses. A partial solar eclipse was visible on March 29, 2025, from a wide portion of the Northern Hemisphere.
🔭 Instrument: Hestia
📍 Location: Morocco
April 2025 - Rim Nebula, by Daniel Hall
In the southern constellation Ara, the "Fighting Dragons of Ara" reveals its dramatic, sculpted clouds, making it one of the most stunning targets in the night sky.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera II
🕘 Total exposure: 12 hours
📍 Location: Canberra, Australia
May 2025 - Elephant Trunk Nebula, by Charles Michaud
The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a striking pillar of gas and dust sculpted by stellar winds, where new stars are being born deep within its dark folds.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera II
🕘 Total exposure: 7 hours
📍 Location: France
✍️ Comments: Dual Band filter | Processing with Siril/PixInsight/Darktable
June 2025 - Whirlpool Galaxy, by Joe Sorace
This image of M51, captured over multiple nights from Taghkanic State Park in Ancram, New York, reveals the dramatic gravitational dance between the Whirlpool Galaxy and its companion, NGC 5195.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera Pro
🕘 Total exposure: 14 hours and 23 minutes
📍 Location: United-States
🔎 Zoom in
July 2025 - Crescent Nebula, by Stephen Paterson
This photo of the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus was taken using four Vespera II smart telescopes and Vaonis Dual Band filters.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera II
🕘 Total exposure: 13 hours 42 minutes
📍 Location: United Kingdom, Bortle 3
🔎 Learn more
August 2025 - Trifid Nebula, by the Vaonis Imaging Club
This image of the Trifid Nebula was born from the collaborative work of the members of the Vaonis Imaging Club (VIC), a private group formed in 2023 by like-minded Vaonis customers eager to share their data, techniques, and experience.
🔭 Instrument: mix of Vespera. Processing by Ian Baber.
🕘 Total exposure: 12 independent captures
📍 Location: the world
September 2025 - Total Lunar Eclipse, by Audrey Le Roch
Hestia is the perfect telescope for capturing the beauty of lunar eclipses. On September 7, 2025, a total lunar eclipse cast its characteristic red hue across the Moon, a spectacle observed by millions across the globe, from seasoned stargazers to curious first-timers.
🔭 Instrument: Hestia
📍 Location: Nice, France
October 2025 - Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon, by Jeff Lane
Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon made a notable appearance in October, offering clear views as it brightened and drifted across the autumn constellations. As the month progressed, its structure became increasingly defined, revealing more detail in its developing tail.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera II
🕘 Total exposure: 5min of integration with 10-second subs
📍 Location: United-States
November 2025 - Mega Mosaic of Cygnus, by Nathanael Martin
This superb image of the Cygnus Nebular Complex is an original mega-mosaic of 585 MP, weighing more than 300 MB in JPEG format. It is the most spectacular and gigantic mosaic our team has seen so far taken with Vaonis smart telescopes, captured by American user Nathanael Martin.
It showcases several iconic nebulae in the Cygnus region, including the North America Nebula (upper right), the Crescent Nebula, the Tulip Nebula (right), and the Veil Nebula (bottom left).
🔭 Instrument: three Vespera II
🕘 Total exposure: more than 222 hours of acquisition
📍 Location: Chile and US
✍️ Comments: 13° x 18° field of view, assembled from 48 Vespera II mosaic panels
🔎 Learn more
December 2025 - Orion Nebula, by Tim Ciasto
The Orion Nebula and the Running Man Nebula, beautifully captured by Swedish astrophotographer Cosmic Captures (Tim Ciasto) using the X_Edition, a limited-edition smart telescope created as a tribute to the engineering behind Vespera.
🔭 Instrument: Vespera II X_Edition
🕘 Total exposure: 2 hours 20 minutes
📍 Location: United-States, Bortle 2
