In Pictures: Amateur astronomer captures stunning images of space from Peterborough garden

It was at age five that Roger Allpress first glimpsed the wonders of the universe through his grandfather’s old Victorian telescope.

Distant galaxies, colourful cloud nebulae, and planets in our own solar system filled his childhood mind with awe – and he became hooked on astronomy.

Fifty-five years later, Roger is still star-gazing. But modern technology now means he can capture his own stunning shots of the universe from his back garden in Whittlesey.

He now hopes that by sharing his images, and his own story, that it will encourage other people to take up the hobby.

“I have been interested in astronomy for around 55 years,” said Roger. “My grandfather had a telescope which was made in 1900 and I would look through it as a lad.

"Seeing the rings of Saturn or close-ups of the craters on the moon always captured my imagination, as did the Moon landings.”

Roger says growing up watching the BBC’s The Sky at Night programme also helped to foster his interest.

“Patrick Moore was a big influence on me,” he recalls. “As a child I wrote to him a number of times for advice, and he always replied.”

Roger, a former civil servant who now works as an exam invigilator, says he employs various techniques to capture his images, using long exposures on his astronomical camera attached to the telescope.

"The images are made up of numerous individual sub frames – usually 30-50, with each one being three to five minutes long,” he explains. “These are then stacked on top of each other in software programmes to produce a single, clean image. Each finalised image is usually a total of about three to five hours worth of sub frames.”

He also uses a free app called Stellarium to show which astronomical objects are visible in the night sky at any one time.

His methods work in astounding detail – from capturing surface details on our own sun and moon - to galaxies millions of light years from Earth.

“My personal favourite image is that of the Dolphin nebula,” Roger adds. “From here in the UK it is low down in the sky and is quite faint, making it difficult to image.”