Aphelion, the point in an orbit farthest from the Sun. It's where a comet slows, turns, and starts the long fall home. It's also, we think, the best vantage point there is: far enough out to see everything.
Aphelion Prints makes astronomy art for walls. Plates of nebulae, eclipses, blueprints of the machines we sent out, travel posters for the planets and the Moon: each printed to order, and nothing is warehoused. Posters are printed on 250 gsm uncoated off-white archival paper. The same plates also come as framed posters and on canvas.
Three things to buy
The art. Our collection is printed to order. Each product page identifies its artwork process and any reference or image credits. The shop shows every plate with its price, and the collection sorts them by subject: the Moon, the planets, galaxies, nebulae and space posters.
A star map. The sky you could actually have seen. Choose a place, a date and a time, and the personalised star map charts every star bright enough for the naked eye, 5,044 of them up to magnitude 6.0, placed for that place and that minute, with the time read as local to the place you chose. The preview is free, so you see the exact print before you pay.
Your own photo. Cosmic Canvas turns a photograph you love into an artwork in one of ten styles, from oil-painting to line art. You see a free watermarked preview before you pay, and nothing prints until you approve it. Prefer the photo as it is? We'll print it exactly as it is, after checking it against every size we sell.
Who makes it
Aphelion Prints is run by Craig Fearn. He writes the guides on this site, checks the full moon and eclipse dates against NASA and the Royal Observatory, and tests the star charts against independent star positions before they go on sale.
Each guide answers one question, with its sources named. If you find something wrong, email hello@aphelion-prints.com and it will be corrected, with the update date shown on the page.
How each piece is checked
The Moon phase print is calculated with Astronomy Engine 2.1.19, and its results are compared with the US Naval Observatory's noon values for dates in 1900, 2000, 2026 and 2100. Full moon dates on the guides come from NASA, and the 2026 dates are checked against the Royal Observatory Greenwich to the minute. A photo you upload is graded at every size before you can order it: 300 dpi or more is excellent, 140 to 300 is acceptable, and below 140 the size is blocked.
What Aphelion won't do
- No licensed logos, mission badges or official merchandise. Spacecraft and planets are drawn as subjects, not brands.
- No reprinted agency posters. We hold no third-party poster licences, so the catalogue is our own artwork, credited telescope imagery and calculated charts.
- No star names for sale. The International Astronomical Union runs no commercial naming service, so a star map charts the sky and names no star after anyone.
- No printing a photo bigger than it can hold. Sizes below 140 dpi are blocked, not stretched.
- No delivery outside the UK for now.
How an order works
- Pick a format and size. The price on the page is the price at checkout.
- Pay through Stripe Checkout. Standard delivery is free to UK addresses; Priority delivery, 3 to 6 working days, is £4.99.
- We print it to order after payment: production takes 2 to 4 working days, then delivery takes 2 to 5. Allow 4 to 9 working days from order to doorstep.
- If your print arrives damaged, faulty or wrong, please email hello@aphelion-prints.com promptly with your order reference and a photo of the issue if possible. We will provide the remedy you are entitled to under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 at no cost to you. Reporting an issue after 30 days, or being unable to supply a photo, does not by itself remove your statutory rights. Catalogue prints can be cancelled up to 14 days after delivery. Personalised items can't be returned for a change of mind.
The full rules are on delivery and returns, and the FAQ covers sizes, paper and what happens to an uploaded photo.
Where to start
Want something for the wall? Space posters sorts the plates by style. Reading before buying? The guides cover the Moon, the planets and the constellations.