We've long enjoyed images of space and snapshots of the vastly intriguing Universe that lays around the planet that we call home. NASA is regularly showing off awesome imagery it has captured with the likes of the Hubble Space Telescope or the various space-faring mission to Mars and Jupiter.

It's also possible to capture your own images from home. If you have the right equipment, a lot of patience and the know-how, but that's not the only way.

Stellina is a smart telescope that makes capturing views of the Universe around us really simple. Load up the app, click on the spot you want to see and this amazing bit of kit does all the work for you.

We were asked to take a look at the Stellina observation station to see what it could do and we couldn't resist.

This simple-looking box isn't a telescope in the traditional sense, but instead the "perfect hybrid" between a smart telescope and a camera.

You don't need to know what the constellations are in the sky before you start using it as the system does all the work for you.

Choose a constellation, galaxy, cluster or nebula from the app and Stellina automatically finds that object, focuses on it and then proceeds to collect imagery while stacking images to create the final result. With a long exposure, you can capture some incredible views. We've collected some of the best we managed for you to enjoy.

Eagle Nebula

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The Eagle Nebula has been famously and magnificently photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, but we're pretty pleased with how this image came out.

The Eagle Nebula is located about 5,700 light-years away and includes the famous Pillars of Creation - the whisps of interstellar gas and dust that you can see in the centre of the image.

This photo took 200 images stacked over a 30-minute period to capture and is an excellent example of what Stellina can do.

Bubble Nebula

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This is NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula, it's a brilliant emission nebula which if you look closely resembles a bubble (hence the name). That bubble is formed by a stellar wind created by a young nearby star.

It's said to be somewhere between 7 and 11,000 light-years from Earth. So pretty incredible that we managed to take this image from our back garden.

The image we took here was taken over an hour-long period with 51 images stacked to create this result.

Bode's Galaxy

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Bode's Galaxy (aka M81) was originally spotted by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode in 1774. It's roughly 11.6 million light-years away from Earth but is one of the brightest galaxies that's visible in our night's sky.

The view captured by the Hubble Telescope is obviously more impressive, but our photo is neat too. 188 images were taken and stacked to create this image over a 30-minute view time.

The Moon

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Stellina isn't really designed to take photos of planets. Though you can find them in the app, you will get a warning that the smart telescope is built to capture galleries, nebulae and clusters and will perform best doing so.

That said, we did manage to get this rather nifty image of the Moon when it was shining particularly brightly in the night sky.

Dumbbell Nebula

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The Dumbbell Nebula is another body that was discovered a long time ago, with Charles Messier originally spotting it in 1764.

The view you're seeing is the result of an old star shedding its layers into the surrounding area resulting in a glowing and colourful display.

This nebula is over 1,200 light-years away and yet here we've managed to capture it from our home with ease.

Veil Nebula

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This is one of the most impressive images we managed to take with the smart telescope.

It takes around an hour to see this view of this area which shows a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus.

This impressive nebula is said to be the result of a supernova that was over 20 times larger than our sun and exploded as much as 20,000 years ago.

It was originally spotted by William Herschel in 1784 and now captured by us with just our phone, Stellina and a touch of patience.

Engagement Ring

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This is a region known as the Engagement Ring. It's located about 1,500 light-years from Earth and is home to an incredibly bright star known as HD 83535.

Under the right conditions, the bright star you can see in this image is visible with a large nebula behind it. Unfortunately cloud cover and temperature changes stopped us from getting the full image, but it's still amazing to see how bright the star is.

Pacman Nebula

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This image of the Pacman Nebula was created with 342 images stacked over an hour-long period.

This is an emission nebular which is located in the Milky Way's Perseus Spiral Arm. It was originally discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard in 1883 but has since acquired the name Pacman Nebula because of its resemblance to the classic arcade game character.

Soul Nebula

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This is a view of Westerhout 5, also known as the Soul Nebula. It takes over two hours to get a good view of this region. Which can be tricky with changes in the weather that can happen while Stellina is focussing on the area.

Still, it's an impressive site considering this emission nebula is located around 7,500 light-years from our home. The faint red tint in the image is from the emissions of hydrogen gas in the region.

Pleiades

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The Pleiades is certainly strikingly bright. This view shows a region of space that's just 410 light-years from Earth with over 800 stars in a close group.

Pleiades also goes by the name the Seven Sisters in reference to a Greek legend around the Titan god Atlas and his daughters.

It was originally seen by Galileo Galilei in 1610 and sketched to show 36 stars in the area. In this photographic form, it certainly shows off some impressively bright stars.

Triangulum Galaxy

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Here we took 209 images of the Triangulum Galaxy which Stellina automatically stacked into this resulting photo.

The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest local galaxy behind the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way.

Great Pegasus Cluster

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This photo is made up of 196 stacked images taken in roughly half an hour and shows one of the most densely packed globulars known in the Milky Way.

Great Pegasus Cluster, also known as Messier 15, is said to be one of the older clusters in our Galaxy. At around 12 billion years old, it's certainly an impressive sight. It is located 33,600 light-years from Earth and is home to around 100,000 stars making it 360,000 times brighter than our Sun.

Ghost of Cassiopeia

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This photo of the Ghost of Cassiopeia was created with 477 images captured during a 2-hour-long exposure.

If you look carefully you can see a hint of the brilliant eerie area of space that was previously captured by the Hubble Telescope.

Ultraviolet radiation from the nearby, blue-giant star Gamma Cassiopeiae (seen in the bottom right) is bombarding the hydrogen in the area causing the red glow you can see faintly in the middle.

Fireworks Galaxy

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The Fireworks Galaxy might appear tiny here, but it's actually said to be 40,000 light-years in diameter. It contains roughly half the number of stars as the Milky Way and is very active with supernovae explosions happening 10 times as often.

It's located 25,000 light-years from Earth and is seen here with just 108 photos captured with Stellina.

Fishhead Nebula

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You need to squint a bit here to see it, probably due to weather issues while we were taking the photo, but this is the Fishhead Nebula.

It's a star-forming region in the northern constellation Cassiopeia where the colours are caused by the emission of oxygen, hydrogen and sulfur atoms. The resulting shape resembles a fish, hence the name.

Knife Edge Galaxy

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NGC 5907 is a spiral galaxy that looks like a slip of a knife in space created by dwarf stars. It's 50 million light-years from Earth.

Despite its shape, the Knife Edge galaxy is actually one of the most common types of galaxies in the known Universe.

Messier 71

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Messier 71 is another globular cluster - a collection of stars that are tightly bound by gravity.

It's thought to be younger than many other clusters of this type at around 10 billion years old. It's certainly an impressive sight.

Pinwheel Cluster

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Messier 36, also known as the Pinwheel Cluster, is another cluster of stars in space. It's 4,000 light-years away from our home planet and includes a group of approximately 60 stars spaced around 14 light-years across. At approximately 25 million years old, the Pinwheel Cluster is a wonder of space.

This view was taken in 30 mins with around 193 images stacked for the end result.

Cat's Eye Nebula

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The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula that was first spotted by William Herschel in 1786.

Its full beauty is properly demonstrated by the Hubble Space Telescope but even our snap with Stellina gives a clue of the impressive views of the region.

Double Cluster in Perseus

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Double Cluster in Perseus contains two different clusters including NGC 869 and NGC 884. These are said to contain 20,000 solar masses and are thought to be around 12 million years old.

Incredibly there are 300 blue-white super-giant stars in each of the clusters, hence the amazing masses visible here.

Edward Young Star

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Edward Young Star (aka Messier 110) is a dwarf elliptical galaxy and a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy. It only has a low surface brightness which makes it difficult to observe.

The Edward Young Star is said to be unusual because of its dark structures alongside hints at recent star formation. It's also thought to contain about 10 billion stars.

The image we captured with Stellina includes 214 images stacked to create the final photo.

Jupiter

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As we said earlier, Stellina isn't designed for planets, but that doesn't mean you can't have a glimpse. Here's what a quick view of Jupiter looks like.

Caldwell 7

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Caldwell 7 is an intermediate spiral galaxy that's located roughly eight million light-years away from Earth. It's said to contain several star-forming regions. Several bright stars that are part of our own Milky Way are visible in the foreground.

Messier 56

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Messier 56 is about 32,900 light-years away from Earth. It's said to be 84 light-years across and contains around 230,000 solar masses.

Interestingly, M56 is part of the Gaia Sausage which is thought to be the remains of a merged dwarf galaxy.

Owl Cluster

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The Owl Cluster is an open cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Hershel in 1787.

Pelican Nebula

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The Pelican Nebula is an emission nebula discovered by William Hershel. It's associated with the North America Nebula and has a gaseous emission that looks like a Pelican.

In better conditions it takes around two hours to photograph with Stellina and isn't as visible as we'd like here but still a great image.

The Double Double Star

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This is the Double Double Star, also known as Epsilon Lyrae.

The two brightest stars are located 160 light-years from Earth and orbit each other over hundreds of thousands of years.