In Nam Tu Liem district in Hanoi, every night, Tran Ha at his home works with a computer and telescope to record the beauty of the night sky.

The objects in Ha's photos are nebulae and galaxies, the huge structures made up of stars, planets and other matter in the universe.

The distance of 384,400 kilometers from the Moon to the Earth is considered long, but the objects Ha has ‘snatched’ are even further. The distance can only be measured in light years and converted into billions of billions of kilometers.

Ha is now an information technology engineer for a telco in Hanoi. He works with numbers and codes, but is also an artist who has passion for the stars and dreams cherished from childhood.

Looking at the glistering astrophotography images, a viewer may think they were shot by NASA's modern telescopes. But, in fact, they were created by a young engineer in the suburbs of Hanoi.

“When I was small, I lived in the countryside where there were not many electric lights. At that time, I could just contemplate the stars and dreamed,” he recalled .

“After many years of dreaming about the stars, I finally could ‘touch’ them thanks to scientific knowledge. The sky is still far, but it is much nearer to me. The constellations are no longer strangers, but they have become friends,” he said.

Ha said since the day he set up his observatory in 2016, he has spent VND700 million and the expenditure has been increasing day after day.

Talking about the investments, Ha said the most basic components of an astrophotography system, such as telescopes and cameras, as well as accessories, cost a lot of money.

The cost is high partly because good equipment is produced overseas, such as the US, Japan and the UK. Tje devices are made in limited numbers, not in mass production. However, though they are very expensive, Ha said he will continue to spend money on the system.

The nebulae and galaxies in Ha's photos are all very far away from the Earth. If viewing with the naked eye, they are invisible: they are just bright dots flashing in the sky. If viewing through the telescope, one can see more clearly but they are still faint.

To create such colorful photographs, special photography techniques specifically for astrophotography are needed.

“I can take only 10 photos a year. Since the beginning, I have shown about 40 celestials. However, honestly speaking, I am satisfied with just half of them,” he said.

Ha said those who have a "passion for astronomy are silent but not lonely". 

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