A hobbyist has captured a series of incredible photographs of stars, planets and far-away nebulas from his back garden in Kent.

James Flanagan took the outer-space pictures of Jupiter, Mars and a lunar mountain range from his home in Tankerton, Whitstable, using a telescope he says is "middle of the road".

The dad-of-three, who used to be a city councillor, also snapped from his coastal property the Orion and Dumbbell nebulas, the second of which is 1,360 light years away.

"I’ve seen the rings of Jupiter, the icecaps of Mars and mountain ranges on the moon, all from my back garden," 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.”

The former politician's love of stargazing began as a child after receiving a telescope for his birthday, but the interest was rekindled four years ago.

His telescope is fitted with two cameras - one for viewing planets, and another for looking further away at nebulas and galaxies.

Mr Flanagan insists astronomy is a pastime that anyone can take up, as many parts of space can be seen without pricey kit.

"If you’ve just got a pair of binoculars, you’ll be able to see the four main moons of Jupiter, and if you have a good pair you might even be able to make out the rings of Saturn," he explained.

“And as you go through each month or season there’ll be something new to see in the sky.

“For example, next week on the 8th of December there will be a period when Mars will appear to be very close to the Moon there are certain events that I’ll be looking out for.

“Seeing things like that is so awe-inspiring, it always raises the question of what is our place in this universe?”