Sparkly Arctic lights sweep the darkened Icelandic skies; colorful puffs of dust and gas form a spectral bat shape in a distant nebula; The craters on the lunar surface yawn and open, their rocky texture captured in stunning detail.
These and other notable views of cosmic phenomena were selected by the judges to Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 Contest, the organizers of the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London announced on Monday (July 13).
Amateur and professional space photographers from nearly 70 countries submitted more than 5,200 entries to this year’s contest, which is the largest international competition of its kind, representatives said in a statement.
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The photos that made the short list show active regions on the sun’s surface; the aftermath of stellar explosions; star trails over a desert landscape; and little Saturn peeking out from behind the pitted face of our moon, to name a few.
From the shortlisted photos, the judges will select an overall winner. Prizes will also be awarded for the best photos in nine categories: Aurorae; People and space; Our Sun; Our moon; Planets, Comets and Asteroids; Stars and nebulae; Galaxies; and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year, for photographers age 16 and under.
A special award, the Sir Patrick Moore Award for Best Newcomer, honors astrophotographers who have been taking photos of space for less than a year. Another special award, the Annie Maunder Award for Image Innovation, recognizes the creation of outstanding images using telescope data that is publicly available.
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When a massive star explodes like a supernova, it ejects huge amounts of materials, leaving behind one of the most beautiful examples of nebulae. This is the origin of the Veil Nebula, a large gas cloud in the Cygnus constellation, the Swan. This image shows only a small fragment of this nebula. The beauty and fine details of the interlocking tufts of oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, mapped here with their natural colors, are breathtaking. (Image credit: Copyright Josep Drudis)
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On August 12, 2019, our moon occluded Saturn and its moons. The gradually growing shadowy branch of the gibbous Moon hid the planet for several minutes. The shaded mountains are visible against the shiny planet and it sounds like a jagged edge where the planet is hidden. To Saturn’s left are two of its own icy moons, Tethys (lower) and Dione (upper), small specks in the dark. (Image credit: Copyright Andy Casely)
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After two weeks of storm, cloud and snow on Norway’s Lofoten Islands, the sky finally cleared, providing the perfect conditions for hunting the Northern Lights. The photographer waited patiently in his car for the light show to begin and, at the first sign of the northern lights in the sky, set up his camera at this famous viewpoint in the idyllic fishing village of Hamnøy. The image is a combination of manual exposure consisting of a base image for the sky and the foreground plus a total of seven images in square brackets to balance reflections and shadows in the fishing village and the water. (Image credit: Copyright Andreas Ettl)
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This image captures the photographer’s favorite astrophotography field and one of the most vibrant and colorful nebulae in space. It shows many interesting deep-sky objects such as Rho Ophiuchi, the triple star surrounded by the blue reflection nebula IC 4604 in the upper left, the red supergiant star Antares and one of the closest globular clusters to the M4 Solar System on the right. This two-panel mosaic was taken under the dark Namibian sky for two nights in August 2019. (Image credit: Copyright Mario Cogo)
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The image was taken while the photographer was staying at Sossus Dune Lodge, in Namib Naukluft Park in Namibia. Located in a quiet and remote area, the hostel has a reputation for being the perfect place for star gazers. The photographer was intrigued by the warning sign at the hostel warning guests to keep the doors closed in case the baboons sneak in, so he spent the night waiting for a baboon to jump into the shot! (Image credit: Copyright Qiqige (Nina) Zhao)
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Years ago, before overfishing, Little Redfish Lake was called that because of the large number of salmon that gave it a red color. The red coloration is no longer seen due to the salmon, but the color of the sunsets and the brightness of the air at night still turn the waters into a vibrant red. It is these beautiful warm echoes of red, combined with the mirror-like reflections of the Sawtooth Mountains in the distance and the alignment of the Milky Way with the mountains that make Little Redfish Lake one of the most spectacular places in which the photographer has never photographed night. The photographer recalls that “that night we were lucky to have the lake shore for us, just three of us, and a pretty excited dog who did his best not to bump into our tripods.” We spend the sunset here, waiting for the stars to come out and the core of the Milky Way to rise, marveling at the red color of the water. (Image credit: Bryony Richards)
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The 50th anniversary of ESO’s La Silla Observatory culminated in a very clear and dazzling total solar eclipse. In a very long process, the photographer calibrated, aligned, and stacked 96 frames together, revealing the streamers and the faint crown. The stars also became visible, especially the red giant Betelgeuse (left) that began to dim in the following months. For the different star glitters of the little star dots, the photographer used his RealStars action game; so he was able to show the brightness of Betelgeuse compared to Bellatrix and the other stars during the day. (Image credit: Sebastian Voltmer)
“Astronomy is one of the most accessible sciences, and everyone has looked at the night sky at one time or another and wondered what’s out there in the cosmos,” said Emily Drabek-Maunder, contest judge and astronomer at the Royal Observatory from Greenwich, Emily Drabek-Maunder. . “Astrophotography closes the gap between art and science, highlighting the natural beauty of our universe.”
The contest winners will be announced on September 10, and those photos will be displayed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, starting in October, according to the statement.
