Photographer shares heavenly inspiration

He chose Heyuan town in Yitong county first, and he fell in love with the hobby immediately.

Of all the photos he has taken, his favorite is a stunning image of the Rosette Nebula, a cloud of interstellar dust and gas located about 5,000 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros.

"The Rosette Nebula can only be shot in winter with more than 20 hours of continuous exposure," Liu said. "I couldn't stop shivering even in three cotton-padded coats when I took the photos in the wild during an extremely cold winter. But when I got the final images, I felt everything was worthwhile."