Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist revealed

Awe-inspiring scenes of the Milky Way, of galaxies colliding, of the Northern Lights dancing across the night’s sky and of Saturn and its moons all feature in the shortlist for this year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year. 

The annual competition is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine. 

In 2022, the competition received more than 3,000 entries from passionate amateurs and dedicated professional photographers, submitted from 67 countries across the globe.

Shortlisted images from this year’s competition include the Harvest Moon rising behind Glastonbury Tor in the United Kingdom, the lights of the Milky Way mirrored by the highest national highway in the world in Tibet, one of the most detailed amateur-produced maps of the lunar South Pole, created in the United States, a partial solar eclipse over Italy, and the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy captured in Australia exactly 270 years after its discovery. 

Now in its 14th year, the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition has an expert panel of judges from the worlds of art and astronomy. 

The winners of the competition’s nine categories, two special prizes and the overall winner will be announced at a special online award ceremony on September 15. 

The winning images will be displayed in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum from September 17, alongside a selection of exceptional shortlisted images. It will cost £10 to visit. 

The competition’s official book, publishing on September 29, will also showcase the winning and shortlisted entries. 

The overall winner will receive £10,000. Winners of all other categories and the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year will receive £1,500. There are also prizes for runners-up (£500) and highly commended (£250) entries. 

The Special Prize winners – newcomers and innovators – will receive £750. All the winning entrants will receive a one-year subscription to BBC Sky at Night Magazine.   

One of the astronomical highlights of 2021 was the discovery of Comet Leonard, a long period comet identified by G.J. Leonard in January last year. It made its closest pass by Earth on December 12, 2021 and was the brightest comet of the year. 

Almost a quarter of submissions to the planets, comets and asteroids category focused on this single comet, including a spectacular image captured in Namibia by Lionel Majzik. 

Majzik said: “Photography was hampered by overcast weather conditions, but I was delighted to capture the incredibly spectacular Comet Leonard with its tail.”

One of the themes captured by some of the entrants this year was the impact of pollution and light pollution on astrophotography. 

Similarly, one of the shortlisted entrants for Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year, Zezhen Zhou, had to overcome the light pollution in Shaoxing, China, to capture the image of Pickering’s Triangle, part of the Veil Nebula in the Cygnus constellation. 

Pictured top: Carina Nebula by Ignacio Diaz Bobillo