This is a selection of images taken using the Observatory by our undergraduate and postgraduate students. You can tap/click on each image to see it in full, along with a description
The Horsehead Nebula in Orion
Date taken: 17 November 2025
Exposures: 10x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Authors: Ben Tobin, Simon Toogood et al.
The crater Eratosthenes and the Montes Apenninus mountain range on the Moon. Eratosthenes is 59km wide, 3.6km deep, and estimated that this crater is 3.2 billion years old.
Exposures: Single
Processing: None
Author: Simon Toogood
An exoplanet transit of HAT-P-56B. The blue dots show the light of the star as measured at Oadby. The red line is a model fitted to the data, showing that there is a decrease in brightness due to an exoplanet transiting the star.
Date taken: 7 March 2023
Analysis Software: AstroImageJ
Authors: Oliver Malkin et al.
Jupiter
Date taken: 29 November 2023
Exposures: Single
Processing: None
Authors: Simon Toogood and Oliver Malkin
The Blowdryer Galaxy is one of the largest and brightest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. It is approximately 55 million light years away and over 166 thousand light years across.
Date taken: 2 April 2025
Exposures: 30x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Author: Simon Toogood
The core of the Andromeda Galaxy
Date taken: 17 November 2025
Exposures: 10x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Authors: Ben Tobin, Simon Toogood et al.
Globular cluster M3 - this is one of the brightest clusters in the Northern Hemisphere with an estimated half a million stars and an age of over 11 billion years.
Date taken: 2 April 2025
Exposures: 20x30s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Author: Simon Toogood
The Great Orion Nebula
Date taken: 17 November 2025
Exposures: 10x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Authors: Ben Tobin, Simon Toogood et al.
Elliptical galaxy M85 with its neighbours NGC4394 and IC3292.
Date taken: 2 April 2025
Exposures: 30x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Author: Simon Toogood
Part of Markarian's Chain - a long string of galaxies in the Virgo Cluster.
Date taken: 2 April 2025
Exposures: 30x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Author: Simon Toogood
A planetary nebula known as the Owl Nebula, this is an emission nebula created by a dying star shedding its outer layers.
Date taken: 2 April 2025
Exposures: 50x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Author: Simon Toogood
The Flame Nebula in Orion. The extremely bright star to the right of the iamge is Alnitak, the leftmost star in Orion's Belt.
Date taken: 17 November 2025
Exposures: 10x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Authors: Simon Toogood, Ben Tobin et al.
The Veil Nebula
Date taken: 17 November 2025
Exposures: 10x60s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Authors: Ben Tobin, Simon Toogood et al.
A supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), just one day after it was discovered. This was the closesnt and brightest supernova in nearly a decade - outshining the core of the galaxy by over 10 times.
Date taken: 20 May 2023
Exposures: 100x30s
Processing: Siril, GIMP
Authors: Simon Toogood, Oliver Malkin
Crescent Venus
Date taken: 18 March 2025
Exposures: Single
Processing: Photos App
Author: Simon Toogood
Gibbous Venus
Date taken: 20 May 2020
Exposures: Single
Processing: Photos App
Author: Simon Toogood