Watch this video of some of our editors’ picks for the best deep-sky photos of July 2025, and then see more below!

Stunning deep-sky photos from our community

The EarthSky community has many talented astrophotographers who capture stunning images of the deep sky. We gathered some of our favorite deep-sky photos we received in July 2025 for you to enjoy. Do you have some of your own images to share? You can submit them to us here. We love to see them!

Deep-sky photos of diffuse nebulae
Deep-sky photos: A bright red, irregular cloud, surrounded by fainter red gas over a multitude of stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jelieta Walinski at Desert Bloom Observatory in Arizona captured the Phantom of the Opera Nebula on July 26, 2025. Jelieta wrote: “Gazing into the cosmos, we find ourselves face-to-face with SH2-171, a captivating emission nebula. It lies approximately 4,800 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. This nebula’s ghostly visage is formed by ionized gas and dust, illuminated by the intense radiation of nearby stars. Its eerie, mask-like shape has captivated astronomers and stargazers alike, earning it a spot among the most striking nebulae in the night sky.” Thank you, Jelieta!
A bright, compact, blue nebulosity over a multitude of distant stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Rui Santos in Amor, Leiria, Portugal, captured the Iris Nebula in the constellation Cepheus on July 27, 2025. Rui wrote: “21 hours of exposure. 4 nights under the sky with the telescope. Thousands of frames. The result? The deepest image I’ve ever managed to capture, one of the most beautiful reflection nebulae in the Milky Way.” Thank you, Rui!
Small dark patch surrounded by plentiful nebulosity and numerous faint stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Martin Curran in Cheyenne, Wyoming, captured Barnard 174 on July 27, 2025. Martin wrote: “Barnard 174 is an outstanding dark nebula in Cepheus. It sits among a bright and colorful background, and the stars around it have beautiful halos that really add contrast to the image.” Thank you, Martin!
Deep-sky photos of Cygnus
Large, complex, yellowish swirls of gas with prominent dark lanes and numerous foreground stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ernest Jacobs in Eden, New York, captured nebulae around the star Sadr, in the constellation Cygnus, on July 18, 2025. Ernest wrote: “This wide-field look into the Sadr region in Cygnus captures multiple objects in the frame. IC 1318 (Gamma Cygni Nebula), NGC 6888 (the Crescent Nebula), M29 (an open cluster), DWB 111/119 (the Propeller Nebula), plus many more objects. Such a rich and beautiful part of the night sky.” Thank you, Ernest!
Multiple reddish patches of nebulosity with dark lanes, overlaid with a rich background of stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan near Cotopaxi, Colorado, caught diffuse nebulae in the constellations Cygnus and Cepheus on July 28, 2025. Andy wrote: “If you zoom in on the image you can see the Crescent and Cocoon nebulae located directly above the capital C. By the way, the Elephant Trunk nebula is located in Cepheus.” Thank you, Andy!
Veil nebula
Large, expansive filamentary arcs of red and blue nebulosity with numerous background stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tom Cofer in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, captured the Veil Nebula on July 7, 2025. Tom wrote: “This tangled tapestry of cosmic filaments is the colorful wreckage of a star that exploded thousands of years ago. The red and blue wisps are shockwaves plowing through space at over a million miles per hour … space is not as quiet as it looks! If you stare long enough, it almost feels like the universe is showing off just a little.” Thank you, Tom!
Large, arc-shaped cloud of gas in blue and orange, with numerous background stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, caught the Eastern Veil Nebula on July 5, 2025. Steven wrote: “The Eastern Veil is part of a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust that formed when a star 20 times more massive than the sun exploded. This supernova remnant has expanded to cover an area of the sky roughly 3 degrees in diameter (6 times the full moon). It is 2,400 light-years distant.” Thank you, Steven!
A complex nebulous region with multiple reddish arc-shaped clouds, over a rich background of stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tameem Altameemi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) caught the Veil Nebula Complex on July 25, 2025. Tameem wrote: “Known for its delicate filaments and colorful ionized gas structures, the Veil is a favorite target among astrophotographers.” Thank you, Tameem!
Star clusters
A large, spherical cluster with thousands of yellowish stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Gwen Forrester in DeKalb County, Tennessee, caught the globular star cluster Messier 22 on July 2, 2025. Gwen wrote: “Messier 22, the Great Sagittarius Globular Cluster. 100,000 stars, 80 light-years across, 10,000 light-years away. This was the first deep-space object I came across randomly when I first started browsing around with a telescope. I could only barely see it, as a faint, ghostly patch of light, but I immediately knew it was something special. I always love coming back to it.” Thank you, Gwen!
A small, spherical cluster containing hundreds of bright whitish stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Guido Santacana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, captured the Hercules Cluster on July 20, 2025. Guido wrote: “A telescopic view of Messier 13, the Great Cluster in Hercules. This is the brightest globular cluster in the northern celestial hemisphere, containing at least 300,000 stars.” Thank you, Guido!
The Pinwheel Galaxy
Large, bluish galaxy, a spiral seen head-on, with a foreground of numerous stars.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | EarthSky’s own Marcy Curran in Cheyenne, Wyoming, captured the Pinwheel Galaxy on July 1, 2025. Marcy wrote: “The Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) is a face-on, counterclockwise intermediate spiral galaxy. It’s 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a diameter of approximately 252,000 light-years and contains around one trillion stars. Pierre Méchain discovered it in 1781. Then Charles Messier verified its position before adding it to his Messier Catalog. It was 101 out of 110 deep-sky objects. The beautiful Pinwheel Galaxy is a near-perfect representation of a spiral galaxy.” Thank you, Marcy!
And a supernova in a distant galaxy
Small, yellowish, nebulous spiral with a yellow tick mark pointing at a clump near the center.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman of Tucson, Arizona, used a remote telescope in Chile to capture Supernova 2025rbs (in galaxy NGC 7331) on July 18, 2025. Eliot wrote: “A new type Ia supernova in NGC 7331, a well-studied galaxy. There have been prior supernovas observed in this galaxy.” Thank you, Eliot!

Bottom line: Enjoy this gallery of deep-sky photos for July 2025 from our EarthSky community. If you have a great photo to share, send it in, too. We love to see them!

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Armando Caussade
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About the Author:

Armando is known primarily as an astronomy educator, after 30+ years of extensive public outreach and 10 years teaching in colleges. As one of only a handful of science communicators in Puerto Rico during Comet Halley’s last visit, he assumed a pioneering role starting in 1985 when science was just beginning to enter the collective mindset. Over the years, his work as a teacher, speaker and writer, inspired people to pursue interests in science and brought enduring change to Puerto Rican culture. After being accepted into the 2014–2015 Antarctic season of PolarTREC, Armando was assigned to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where in 2015 he successfully conducted 10 days of work at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. His affiliations include Ana G. Méndez University, Cupey campus (2014 to 2021), the University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla campus (2015 to 2017), NASA JPL’s Solar System Ambassadors (2004 to 2006), and NASA Space Grant (2017 to 2019) where he served as an affiliate representative.