Submission deadline nears for Astronomy Photographer of the year competition

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is reminding photographers to enter this year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition before submissions close.

In its 17th year, the Astronomy Photographer of the Year only has two weeks left for entrants to submit their images in a bid for the grand prize of £10,000.

Photographers of all ages and abilities have until March 3 to submit up to 10 images into the various categories of the competition.

The eight main categories include Skyscapes, Aurorae, People and Space, Our Sun, Our Moon, Planets, Comets and Asteroids, Stars and Nebulae and Galaxies.

As well as the main categories, Astronomy Photographer of the Year includes the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year prize for budding astronomers under the age of 16.

There are also two special prizes, The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer and The Annie Maunder Open Category.

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer is open to amateur photographers who have taken up astrophotography in the past year and have not entered an image to the competition previously.

The Annie Maunder Open Category recognises the best photo processed using any form of astronomical data, bringing together the worlds of the arts, astronomy and astrophotography.

For this category entrants can use any software, analogue or digital manipulation, or AI processing to produce their image. AI-generated data or any other artificial data are not eligible.

All the winners, runners up and highly commended entries from this year, from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 17 competition will be displayed in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum from September 2025.

Photographers can enter online by visiting apy.rmg.co.uk.

Pictured top: Overall winning image of Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024, Distorted Shadows of the Moon’s Surface Created by an Annular Eclipse (Picture: Ryan Imperio)