Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 Shortlist Revealed

The Royal Observatory’s prestigious Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 competition has revealed the shortlisted photos from this year’s entries.

A record-breaking 5,200 entries shot by amateur and professional photographers located in nearly 70 countries were received this year by the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 contest.

Here are the shortlisted photos in each of the major categories:

Annie Maunder Prize

“Produced using publicly available images. Entrants must process and manipulate the raw data in order to create a new version of that image.”

M16 © Alexios Theodorov

Aurorae

“Photographs featuring auroral activity.”

Geysir Aurora © Phil Halper
Stokksnes Aurora © Ben Bush
Northern Dragon’s Eye © Elena Pakhalyuk
Hamnøy Lights © Andreas Ettl

Best Newcomer

Kynance Cove under the Milky Way © Louise Jones
Solar System through my Telescope © Vinicius Martins

Galaxies

“Deep space objects beyond the Milky Way galaxy, including galaxies, galaxy clusters, and stellar associations.”

Starbust Galaxy in Sculptor © Terry Robison.jpg
NGC 2442 in Volans © Martin Pugh
M33 The Triangulum Galaxy © Rui Liao

Our Moon

“Lunar images including lunar eclipses and occultation of planets.”

Big Moon, Little Werewolf © Kirsty Paton
The Moon And the Shard © Mathew Browne
Some Moons are Close, and Some are Small and Far Away © Andy Casely
Crescent Moon © Richard Addis

Our Sun

“Solar images including solar eclipses and transits.”

Total Solar Eclipse, Venus and the Red Giant Betelgeuse © Sebastian Voltmer
Bridging the Light Fantastic © Alastair Woodward
Eruption… © Łukasz Sujka

People and Space

“Photographs of the night sky including people or a human interest element.”

Stargazing Giant © Dai Jianfeng
Meeting © Nicolai Brügger
Beautiful Persian Gulf Nights © Mohammad Sadegh Hayati
Milky Way and Meteor at Porthgwarra © Jennifer Rogers

Skyscapes

“Landscape and cityscape images of twilight and the night sky featuring the Milky Way, star trails, meteor showers, comets, conjunctions, constellation rises, halos and noctilucent clouds alongside elements of earthly scenery.”

Something Old, Something New © Jay Evans
The Red Lake of Stars © Bryony Richards
The Cave of the Wild Horses © Bryony Richards
Cold Night on the Yellowstone © Jake Mosher
Beyond the Fog © Michael Zav’yalov
Galactic Portal © Marcin Zajac

Stars and Nebulae

“Deep space objects within the Milky Way galaxy, including stars, star clusters, supernova remnants, nebulae and other intergalactic phenomena.”

Thor’s Helmet © Ignacio Diaz Bobillo
Statue of Liberty Nebula © Martin Pugh
The Bat Nebula © Josep Drudis
The Magnificent Rho Ophiuchi Complex © Mario Cogo

Young Astronomy Photographer

“Pictures taken by budding astronomers under the age of 16 years old.”

Clouds Across the Moon © Casper Kentish
Startrails in Namib Desert © Qiqige (Nina) Zhao

The winners of this year’s contest will be announced on September 10th, 2020, and the photos will be exhibited in the National Maritime Museum from October 2020.

The overall winner of this year’s competition will walk home with £10,000 (~$12,600) while winners in the other categories will be awarded £1,500 (~$1,900).

You can view last year’s winning images over on the competition’s website.

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