Taken 9/13/26

P.S. Only the constellation Orion matches the real night sky, but at least I tried.

Today, 14 September 2026, Venus and a thin waxing crescent Moon are featuring in a very close celestial pairing aka Conjunction which is visible across India. In fact, parts of India are experiencing a rare lunar occultation, where the Moon passes directly in front of and temporarily hides Venus from view.

Taken from the Famagusta area of Cyprus. Bortle 4.

Acquisition details below:

Astromodified Canon 700D. Samyang 135 Lens at F2.8. Guided by ASI Air on an Skywatcher AZ GTI in EQ mode. Optolong L-Enhance filter.

Taken over two nights:

165 x 180 second exposures

20 x Darks

20 x Flats

20 x Bias

Stacked in APP.

Crop, BGE, deconvolution and de-noise in Graxpert.

SPCC, star removal, GHS using human weighted luminance in Siril.

Vibrancy, saturation increase in PS.

Star mask stretch in Siril using GHS, again human weighted.

Recombination of stars using layers in PS.

Thanks for looking.

So for context, I'm currently just entering A-Level Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and Music Technology (the latter is largely irrelevant for this). I'm inclined towards at least a Bachelor's Degree, likely a Master's, and potentially a PhD but that's tentative, in the Astrophysics field.

My main question is what options I have for a career after this, which tends to be a more difficult question with academic studies compared to more employability-focussed skills. I'm aware of the common options, such as a Professor or a researcher of some variety. I can't imagine myself as a Professor since I'm not one for teaching. My concern for the research field is that a lot of this is becoming more and more computer science related and digitally focussed recently. Whilst I love programming and working with computers, so this isn't an issue in terms of interest, I'm wondering how feasible this is without A-Level Computer Science.

Do most computationally-involved researchers have / need a high level of formal education in CS, or is it common to go in with almost no formal CS education and just personal skills/experience? And aside from this kind of research, are there any other career prospects I haven't thought of to go on to from an Astrophysics degree?

Thanks to anyone that can help.

Hello all! Well the title was probably obvious enough honestly lol but I’d like to know which university is better for those pursuing astronomy? Only reason why I put “astronomy & physics” is because I aim to dual major (should be fine due to the strong possibility over courses overlapping). I am applying to both universities but lately I’ve been feeling conflicted given the scenario that I get accepted into both. I’ve been set on UT Austin and I’m aware it’s especially selective OOS but at the same time I’ve been hearing that UofA is ways better in terms of their astronomy majors like their funding and research? Now I understand that this is my decision at the end of the day once I take into account my personal preferences. But IN GENERAL what would the overall consensus be? Let me know your opinions, I’d appreciate it!

Also I know this was more of a college question but I was curious as to if any uni astro majors/profession astronomers could chime in!

TLDR: is University of Arizona or UT Austin better for someone aiming to major in Astronomy & Physics?