A TALENTED New Cumnock astro-photographer has captured some extraordinary images.

The shots taken by Bryan Shaw in New Cumnock show three of the main targets of the Orion constellation, which are the Great Nebula of Orion, the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula.

The images are believed to capture the images that are between 1,300 and 1,500 light years away.

On capturing the images, Bryan said: “Orion’s belt is kind of the one most people know about, so I wanted to explore that in a bit more detail and it seems like a lot of people are interested and are intrigued by it.

“This was one we looked out for as a kid, so I wanted to see it in more detail.

“It’s amazing to think that by the time the light travels to us then we’ll never know what that star looks like right now in 2022.

“I’m lucky enough that I’ve got a south-facing garden so I can do it quite well from here.

“I’ve done photography for about 15 years, and then I started astro-photography for about three years.

“I compared images I did from three years ago to ones I took recently and it shows how much you can improve.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into this. You’re talking about six hours before you get the data you need for an image like this.

“You can’t just go out and take a few snaps, but the end results are worth it.

“I think the interest from people is because it’s something they see all the time, but never in this kind of detail.”