Tag Archives: Astronomy Photographer of the Year

Jaw-Dropping Winners Of Annual Competition Revealed

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One of the world’s most prestigious competitions for space photos has today revealed its annual winners—and the overall winner includes an important scientific discovery.

The overall winner Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest was revealed to be an image by French and German amateur astronomers that includes the surprising discovery of a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s thought to be the remnants of a supernova or a planetary nebula.

Andromeda is the closest giant spiral galaxy to the Milky Way—and headed towards it, though the collision will occur in about four to six billion years.

In “Andromeda, Unexpected” (below)—which was taken by Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty—it’s hard to miss the huge plasma arc, which covers 1.5º of the night sky and is thought to be the largest such structure close to us.

It’s since been named the Strottner-Drechsler-Sainty Object 1 (SDSO-1), according to Sky & Telescope.

“‘This astrophoto is as spectacular as [it is] valuable,” said László Francsics, an astrophotographer and judge of the competition. “It not only presents Andromeda in a new way, but also raises the quality of astrophotography to a higher level.”

Run by Royal Observatory Greenwich supported by Liberty Specialty Markets and in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition this year had over 4,000 entries from 64 countries.

All the winning and highly commended images will be on display at the National Maritime Museum in London from Saturday, September 16, 2023.

Here are the pick of the winning images:

Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year: ‘The Running Chicken Nebula’

Won by two 14 year old boys from China, Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang, which was described by judge and legendary astrophotographer Yuri Beletsky as a “strikingly beautiful picture.”

Aurorae: ‘Circle of Light’

This image by Andreas Ettl shows the Northern Lights reflected on Skagsanden beach, Norway.

Stars And Nebulae: ‘The Dark Wolf – Fenrir’

This image from James Baguley shows a molecular cloud in the form of a wolf.

Our Sun: ‘A Sun Question’

This image from Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau captures a huge filament in the shape of a question mark.

Skyscapes: ‘Grand Cosmic Fireworks’

Angel An’s winning photograph is of the extremely rare phenomenon of atmospheric luminescence.

Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation: ‘Black Echo’

John White’s Black Echo used audio source material from NASA’s Chandra Sonification Project to visually capture the sound of the black hole at the center of the Perseus Galaxy.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

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Spectacular New Photos Of The Sun Shortlisted For Photography Award

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Exquisite new photos of the sun close to its once-a-decade “solar maximum” phase have been shortlisted for an annual astrophotography context.

With the sun now approaching its most powerful and intense period of activity for some years, the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition includes three incredible images that make use of the latest techniques to capture solar prominences and solar flares.

The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London, attracted 4,000 entries this year from amateur and professional photographers in 64 countries.

One of the most impressive shortlists is for the “Our Moon” category, which encompasses the lunar surface, the moon’s conjunction with planets, and lunar eclipses and transits. The images in this category showcase the moon in all its beauty, from its cratered surface to its dramatic shadows.

The winner of the “Our Sun” category—one of 11 categories—will be announced on September 14, 2023, along with the overall winner of the competition. The winning images will be displayed in an exhibition at London’s National Maritime Museum from September 16, 2023.

Solar Flare X1 from AR2994 in ‘Motion’

Portuguese photographer Miguel Claro—a renowned astrophotographer—took the main image, above, from Dark Sky Alqueva in the Évora district of Portugal.

His photo shows a solar flare—an intense burst of radiation from a sunspot—which is becoming more common as the sun ramps-up its activity. The image is from a 27-minute time lapse on April 30, 2022 of Active Region 2994 that Claro captured using a Sky-Watcher Esprit ED120 telescope.

The Great Solar Flare

Another shot of the sun approaching solar maximum—also shortlisted is “The Great Solar Flare,” an image by Mehmet Ergün from Traisen, Germany.

It shows a solar flare on the left of the image stretching 435,000 miles into space. It was taken using a Lunt LS60 B1200 Double Stack telescope.

Grazing Mammoths

The final stunning solar image shortlisted for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition in the “Our Sun” category is “The Great Mammoth,” an image of a solar prominence on the limb of the sun. Visible to the naked-eye only during a total solar eclipse, Rafael Schmall captured this a bright feature extending outward from the sun’s photosphere using a Lunt LS 100 H-alpha telescope.

It was taken from Zselic National Landscape Protection Area, an International Dark Sky Park in Zselickisfalud, Hungary

China Space Station Transits Active Sun

Nominated in the “People and Space” category is this remarkable ransit of a space station across the sun. However, while most such images use the International Space Station, this one shows the China Space Station (CSS), which has recently been completed.

Produced by selecting the nine clearest photos from captured video frames taken through a Lunt 152T telescope, the image was taken from by photographer Letian Wang from Beijing, China.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

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