Father-of-three captures spectacular images of Mars and the moon using telescope in his back garden - Daily Mail

But father-of-three James Flanagan wanted a better view, and pointed his 'middle of the road' telescope towards outer space to get a closer look.

He has since seen a lunar mountain range, the dusty red surface of Mars and swirling nebulas thousands of light years away, taking spectacular photos of them all.

The amateur astronomer said: 'The furthest thing I've observed is Markarian's Chain, which is a set of galaxies about 55 million light years away - so the light that formed that image left just after the dinosaurs went extinct.'.

He has photographed a lunar mountain range, the dusty red surface of Mars and swirling nebulas thousands of light years away.

He added: 'I've seen the rings of Saturn, the icecaps of Mars and mountain ranges on the moon, all from my back garden.'.

Within our Solar System, he has observed Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and our moon in a lunar eclipse - all from his home in Tankerton, Whitstable.

Within our Solar System, he has seen Saturn (pictured), Jupiter, Mars and our moon in a lunar eclipse.

Mr Flanagan's telescope is fitted with two cameras - one for viewing planets, and another for looking further away at nebulas and galaxies. Pictured: Lunar mountain range.

Mr Flanagan said: 'The furthest thing I've observed is Markarian's Chain, which is a set of galaxies about 55 million light years away - so the light that formed that image left just after the dinosaurs went extinct'.

It will appear bigger and brighter in the sky because it'll be at its closest point to Earth – around 50 million miles (81 million km) away

But Mr Flanagan isn't the only one that has been taking pictures of outer space this month, as NASA has shared a new image of the Eagle Nebula, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope

The $10 billion (£7.4 billion) super space telescope photographed a particular feature of the nebula called the Pillars of Creation - finger-like tendrils of gas and dust that are 6,500 light-years away from Earth

The $10 billion (£7.4 billion) super space telescope (pictured) photographed a particular feature of the nebula called the Pillars of Creation - finger-like tendrils of gas and dust that are 6,500 light-years away from Earth

Dr Sarah Pearce, the head of telescope operations in Australia, said: 'The SKA telescopes will be sensitive enough to detect an airport radar on a planet circling a star tens of light years away, so may even answer the biggest question of all: are we alone in the Universe?'