The UK’s Biggest Astrophotography Competition 2024: Royal Observatory Greenwich Names Winners

The cosmos has never looked more captivating. From ethereal aurora shots, to the intricate details of distant spiral galaxies, lunar crates, and the International Space Station silhouetted against the Sun, the Royal Observatory Greenwich has revealed the breathtaking winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition, showcasing the most stunning celestial captures from all around the globe.

Supported by Liberty Specialty Markets and in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, This year’s contest, now in its 16th iteration, received an astounding 3,741 entries from over 700 photographers across 58 countries. The winning images will be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, starting 13 September, 2024. So, let’s see the very best of this year’s celestial masterpieces.

The Grand Champion: “Our Sun and Overall Winner” Category

Ryan Imperio from the United States has been named the overall winner for his captivating photograph titled “Distorted Shadows of the Moon’s Surface Created by an Annular Eclipse.” This image is a composite of over 30 photographs taken during the annular solar eclipse on 14 October, 2023, in Odessa, Texas. It beautifully captures the fleeting optical illusion known as Baily’s beads, which occurs when sunlight filters through the Moon’s valleys and craters, creating a stunning display visible only during the eclipse.

Runner-up

The runner-up in the “Our Sun” category is Peter Ward from Exmouth, Western Australia, for his striking image titled “Coronal Chronograph.” It showcases the solar corona during two distinct phases of the solar cycle: the lower half captures the corona at solar minimum in 2017, while the upper half depicts it approaching solar maximum in 2023. The contrast is remarkable. the lower section reveals sparse and gentle coronal tendrils, whereas the upper section bursts with fiery eruptions and dynamic streamers.

Highly Commended

Andras Papp’s “Blue Turns to Red, Our Sun Rotates” earned high commendation in the “Our Sun” category for an innovative approach to solar photography. Using a 3D-printed slit spectrograph connected to his telescope and supported by modern image processing, Papp captured the dynamic movements of the Sun’s surface. This ingenious setup allows viewers to discern whether solar material is moving towards Earth (appearing blue-shifted) or away from it (appearing red-shifted). Moreover, the image reveals the Sun’s rotation, offering a unique perspective on our star’s complex surface activity.

Aurora Winner

Larryn Rae’s 19-image panorama of the Aurora Australis above Queenstown’s mountains took the top spot in this category. The photograph beautifully captures the dynamic pink hues of the aurora using a modified camera.

Runner-up

The photographer Filip Hrebenda spent several days patiently waiting for the Aurora Borealis to grace the skies over Iceland’s Highlands. The lush green landscape inspired the title, “The Green Kingdom.”

Highly Commended

Michael Steven Harris received a highly commended recognition for his innovative approach to capturing the Aurora Borealis from the seafront in Brighton, United Kingdom. Despite facing significant light pollution and the limitations of his drone’s small sensor, Harris successfully documented the vibrant pink hues of the aurora illuminating the night sky. His image is a composite of several photographs taken during a single period of high auroral activity.

Galaxies Winner

Bence Tóth’s breathtaking image “Echoes of the Past” won the Galaxies category in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition. Captured at Isabis Farm in Namibia, this stunning photograph showcases the majestic beauty of distant galaxies, revealing intricate details that transport viewers into the depths of the cosmos. 

Our Moon Category Winner

Gábor Balázs from Budapest, Hungary, won the Our Moon category with his striking photograph of Sinus Iridum, or the “Bay of Rainbows.” This 260-kilometer-wide lunar feature is beautifully captured in monochrome, showcasing its rugged terrain and smaller surrounding craters. Notably, the image highlights the Pythagoras crater in the upper right corner, which appears almost from the side due to lunar libration. 

People & Space Category Winner

Tom Williams captured a stunning H-alpha image of the Sun featuring the silhouette of the International Space Station (ISS) transiting the eastern solar limb. This rare event, lasting just 0.2 seconds, showcases the ISS against an active solar backdrop, complete with a prominence near its transit location.

Planets, Comets and Asteroids

Tom Williams created another stunning shot of a false-color composite depicting the phases of Venus as it approached inferior conjunction. Utilizing ultraviolet and infrared filters, he revealed the intricate cloud structure in Venus’s upper atmosphere. The image highlights the contrast between Venus’s slow rotation and its rapidly circulating atmosphere, which completes a revolution in just four days.

Skyscapes Winner

You see the rugged peaks of the Tasman Valley in New Zealand, framed by the stunning southern hemisphere summer night sky and captured by Tom Rae. It features the hydrogen clouds of the Gum Nebula, a vibrant central red region, alongside various areas of active star formation scattered throughout the fainter arms of the Milky Way. This part of the night sky is often overlooked due to the faintness of the Milky Way band.

Stars and Nebulae

The Stars and Nebulae category winner, titled “SNR G107.5-5.2, Unexpected Discovery (The Nereides Nebula in Cassiopeia),” is a remarkable collaborative effort by Marcel Drechsler, Bray Falls, Yann Sainty, Nicolas Martino, and Richard Galli. This impressive photograph is the result of 3,559 frames and 260 hours of exposure time, using telescopes across three continents. The team explored and documented a previously unknown gigantic supernova remnant (SNR) in the center of the Cassiopeia constellation, working under the scientific leadership of Professor Robert Fesen.

Young Category Winner

At just 14 years old, Daniele Borsari from Bergamo, Italy, won the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year title with his stunning image “NGC 1499, A Dusty California.” This deep integration captures the California Nebula, an emission nebula located about 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus. Borsari’s photograph reveals the nebula’s intricate structures, illuminated by the ionization of gases from the blue giant star ξ Persei (Menkib). 

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer

Xin Feng and Miao Gong were awarded the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer for their stunning image of the Dolphin Head Nebula (SH2-308). Captured under challenging conditions, this nebula is positioned low in the sky and can only be photographed for five hours each day.

Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation Winner

Sergio Díaz Ruiz’s innovative image presents Earth as an alien world, offering a unique perspective on our planet. Created by blending data from 16 bands monitored by the GOES-18 weather satellite, the image encodes land masses, oceans, and atmospheric features in distinct colors. It transforms familiar Earth into an intriguing, otherworldly vista, challenging viewers to see our home planet through the lens of a distant civilization. 

Find the complete list of runner-up and highly commended entries from the 2024 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, the world’s largest astrophotography contest, here.