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These stunning images were just shortlisted for the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year award

The winners will be going on display at the National Maritime Museum in September

By Dianne Apen-Sadler

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has just unveiled its shortlist for the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year award, with stunning images of the Milky Way, the northern lights and the solar eclipse all making it onto the list.

 

This year the competition saw more than 5,500 entries from 69 countries across the globe, with a mix of amateur and professional photographers taking part.

 

Categories include skyscapes, aurorae, people and space, our sun, our moon, planets, comets and asteroids, stars and nebulae, and galaxies. There is also a category for young astronomy photographers under the age of 16, as well as prizes for best newcomer, and the Annie Maunder open category award, which is for entrants who experiment with their own astrophotography to make high concept, creative work.

 

The winners will be announced on 11 September, with the winning images going on display at an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum the following day.

 

You can see all the shortlisted entries over on rmg.co.uk/shortlist, and you can see a few of our favourites below.

Aurora Over Mono Lake: A Rare Dance of Light © Daniel Zafra

Location: US 395, Mono Lake, Mono County, USA, 10 October 2024. Taken with a Sony ILCE-7III camera, 14 mm f/1.8, ISO 8,000, 5-second exposure

Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers © Tianyao Yang
Location: Jiading District, Shanghai, China. Taken with a Sony ILCE-7RM4 camera, 600 mm f/4, ISO 250, 1/10-second exposure 
Dragon Tree Trails © Benjamin Barakat
Location: Firmihin Forest, Hidaybu District, Yemen. Taken with a Sony Alpha 7 IV camera, 24 mm f/2.8, ISO 400, 30-second exposure
Moonrise Perfection Over the Dolomites © Fabian Dalpiaz
Location: Santuario di Pietralba, Deutschnofen, South Tyrol, Italy. Taken with a Sony Alpha 7R V camera, 400 mm f/9, ISO 320, 1/200-second exposure
Fireworks © Bence Tóth, Péter Feltóti, Bertalan Kecskés
Taken with a custom-built 250/1000 Newtonian astrograph and Lacerta 300/1200 Photo Newtonian telescope, Antlia V-Pro LRGB and 3 nm H-alpha, OIII and SII filters, Astronomik LRGB and 6 nm H-alpha, OIII and SII filters, Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro mount, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro and ASI294MM Pro cameras,1,000 and 1,200 mm f/4, 8.4-hour L exposures, 6.8-hour R exposures, 6.7-hour G exposures and 6.3-hour B exposures, 39.3-hour H-alpha exposures, 15.3-hour OIII exposures, 28.3-hour SII exposures
Moonrise Over Villebois-Lavalette © Flavien Beauvais
Location: La Font Aride, Saint-Amant-de-Montmoreau, France. Taken with a Canon EOS R7 camera, Sigma 150-600 mm lens at 600 mm f/6.3, ISO 2,500, 1/50-second exposure
Kongen © Filip Hrebenda
Location: Stavelitippen, Fjordgård, Norway. Taken with a Sony Alpha 7R V camera, 12 mm f/2.8 (with focus stacking for foreground), ISO 4,000, 2-second exposure
Cave of Stars © Yoshiki Abe
Location: Nagato, Yamaguchi, Japan. Taken with a Sony ILCE-7RM5 camera, 20 mm. Foreground: f/16, ISO 200, 30-second exposure, 3-frame panorama; Sky: f/1.4, ISO 800, 60-second exposure (stack of 51 frames); H-alpha: ISO 3,200, 90-second exposure (stack of 64 frames)
Comet Over Waikiki © Ran Shen
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Taken with a Nikon Z 8 camera, 110 mm f/4.5, ISO 2,500, 2.5-second exposure
Encounter Within One Second © Zhang Yanguang
Taken with a Takahashi Teegul 60 telescope, Coronado SolarMax 60 double stacked, Vixen polaris mount, Player One Astronomy Neptune-M camera, 500 mm f/8.3, 0.3-millisecond exposure
Electric Threads of the Lightning Spaghetti Nebula © Shaoyu Zhang
Taken with a Takahashi FSQ-106EDXIII telescope, Astrodon LRGBHSO filters and Chroma LRGBHSO filters, 10Micron GM 2000 HPS and Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 mounts, Canon EF 400 mm f/2.8 II IS USM lens, Moravian Instruments G4-16803 and ZWO ASI6200 cameras, 382 mm and 391 mm, f/3.6 and f/2.8, 148.33 hours total exposure
Gateway to the Galaxy © Yujie Zhang
Location: Songyang County, China. Taken with a Nikon Z 8 camera, 15 mm f/4, ISO 2,000, multiple 480-second exposures 

Total Solar Eclipse © Louis Egan

Taken with a Canon EOS 60D camera, SWSA 2I mount, Sigma 70-300 DG lens, Baader solar filter, 300 mm f/6.3, ISO 100, approximately 1,200 x 1/200-second exposures and 200 x 1/25-second exposures