548 galaxies captured from a balcony in the Netherlands
From a balcony in the northern Netherlands, a Dutch amateur astronomer named Cornelis Van Zuilen turned 85 hours of patient sky-watching into a single photograph containing 548 galaxies — most of them billions of light-years away. His target was the Leo Triplet, a trio of spiral galaxies 30 million light-years distant, but what emerged from his personal computer was something larger: evidence that the boundary between amateur curiosity and professional discovery has quietly dissolved. In an age when the cosmos was once the exclusive domain of institutions, one man with a consumer telescope and specialized software has reminded us that wonder, given enough time and discipline, finds its own instruments.
- Van Zuilen set out to capture a tidal tail 300,000 light-years long — a gravitational scar invisible to all but the most determined eyes — and refused to settle for anything less than professional-grade clarity.
- Urban light pollution, atmospheric turbulence, and 18 unpredictable clear nights stood between his ambition and the image he imagined, turning each observation session into a negotiation with the sky.
- He fed over 60 hours of carefully selected data into PixInsight, a software powerful enough to pull faint galaxies out of noise, and spent weeks coaxing structure from light that had traveled billions of years to reach his lens.
- The final image revealed not just the three target galaxies but 548 distinct galactic systems scattered across the frame — a result that would have demanded a major observatory just one generation ago.
Cornelis Van Zuilen spent 60 hours watching the sky from his apartment balcony in Heiloo, a small town in the northern Netherlands, and the photograph that resulted has traveled far beyond the neighborhood where it was made. It contains 548 galaxies — captured not by a supercomputer at a distant observatory, but by a telescope he purchased in late 2024 and a personal computer running specialized software.
His target was the Leo Triplet: M65, M66, and NGC 3628, three spiral galaxies roughly 30 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. Van Zuilen had photographed the region before as part of a personal mission to image every object in the Messier Catalog, but this time he wanted more — specifically, the enormous tidal tail streaming from NGC 3628, a 300,000 light-year structure born from ancient gravitational interactions that few amateurs had ever rendered with clarity.
Starting April 6, 2026, he gathered 85 hours of raw data across 18 clear nights, then selected just over 60 hours of material clean enough to meet his standards. Weeks of processing in PixInsight followed, the software drawing out faint structures that would otherwise remain invisible. What emerged showed the three main galaxies in striking detail — spiral arms, NGC 3628's signature dust band, and that ghostly tidal tail threading outward from its edge — alongside 548 additional galaxies scattered across the frame, most appearing as mere points of light, each one a system of billions of stars.
The deeper significance lies not in the image alone, but in where it was made. Light pollution, atmospheric turbulence, and a consumer-grade telescope should have been disqualifying obstacles. Instead, Van Zuilen's balcony photograph stands as quiet proof that modern technology has made deep-space astronomy permeable to anyone with patience, clear skies, and the right tools — a threshold that, not long ago, only major observatories could cross.
Cornelis Van Zuilen spent 60 hours staring at the sky from his apartment balcony in Heiloo, a town in the northern Netherlands, and what he captured has circulated widely online: a single photograph containing 548 galaxies. The image is not a composite of thousands of exposures stitched together by a supercomputer at some distant observatory. It came from his balcony, through a telescope he bought late in 2024, processed on his personal computer using specialized software.
The target was the Leo Triplet, a famous grouping of three spiral galaxies—M65, M66, and NGC 3628—situated roughly 30 million light-years from Earth within the constellation Leo. Van Zuilen had photographed this region before, in 2025, as part of a larger personal project to image every object in the Messier Catalog, a historical inventory of deep-sky targets. But he wanted to push further. He wanted to capture the immense tidal tail streaming from NGC 3628, a structure 300,000 light-years long, born from gravitational interactions with neighboring galaxies millions of years ago. He wanted detail that had rarely been seen outside professional settings.
Beginning on April 6, 2026, Van Zuilen began his campaign. Over 18 clear nights, he gathered 85 hours of raw astronomical data. Not all of it made the cut. He selected just over 60 hours of material that met his standards—clean, sharp, free of atmospheric distortion—and fed it into PixInsight, a specialized astrophotography software used by both amateurs and professional astronomers. The program allowed him to combine the exposures, analyze the light, and enhance the faint structures that would otherwise remain invisible. Weeks of processing followed.
The resulting image shows the three main galaxies with striking clarity. M65 and M66display their spiral arms. NGC 3628, nicknamed the Hamburger Galaxy for the thick band of dark dust bisecting its center, appears in profile. And threading outward from NGC 3628 is that enormous tidal tail, a ghostly stream of stars and gas torn loose by gravity. But the real revelation lies in what PixInsight identified across the entire frame: 548 additional galaxies, most of them appearing as mere points of light. Each one is a system containing billions of stars. Many are hundreds of millions or even billions of light-years distant.
What makes this achievement notable is not just the image itself, though it is striking. It is where it was made. Urban light pollution, atmospheric turbulence, the modest aperture of a consumer-grade telescope—these are the obstacles that should have prevented such work. Yet here is evidence that the barrier between amateur and professional astronomy has become permeable. The technology has democratized. A person with patience, a decent telescope, clear skies, and access to the right software can now produce results that would have required a major observatory a generation ago. Van Zuilen's balcony photograph is a quiet demonstration of how far that democratization has come.
Notable Quotes
Van Zuilen told Space magazine he began the project as part of a personal series to photograph the entire Messier Catalog, then challenged himself to capture unprecedented detail of NGC 3628's tidal structure.— Cornelis Van Zuilen, via Space publication
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What drew him to the Leo Triplet specifically? Why not photograph something closer or brighter?
He'd already captured it once, in 2025. But the first image left him wanting. He knew NGC 3628 had this enormous tidal tail—300,000 light-years of material pulled loose by gravity—and he wanted to see it. Really see it. The first attempt wasn't enough.
Sixty hours is a long time to point a telescope at the same patch of sky. How does that even work logistically?
It's 18 separate nights of observation. He's not standing there the whole time. The telescope collects light, the camera records it, and he processes it later. But yes, you need clear skies, and you need patience. One cloudy night and you lose that data.
The software identified 548 galaxies. Did he know they were there before processing, or was that a surprise?
The raw data contains all that light, but it's faint, buried in noise. PixInsight is designed to tease out those details—to separate signal from background. So in a sense, they were always there. He just made them visible.
Does this change what amateur astronomy means?
It suggests the definition is shifting. He's not a professional. He's working from his balcony. But the results rival what professionals were producing not long ago. The gap has closed.