The largest annual competition for astrophotographers has already voted its winners. The Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest celebrates its thirteenth year with fascinating images of distant planets or powerful stellar skiescapes. This year, the contest received more than 4,500 entries from 75 countries around the globe.
The beauty of space
Shuchang Dong was the overall winner of this year’s contest for his image, The Golden Ring, taken during an annular solar eclipse in June 2020. Dong captured this rare and fleeting shot of Ali, Tibet, while the sun, moon and the Earth aligned.
Competition judge László Francsics said: “Perfection and simplicity, which can lead to a winning image. The square approach is in tension with the mystical ring, and the hazy blue sky is the perfect complement to the yellow ring. “
Other fascinating winning images include a beautiful view of the Northern Lights captured from the bridge of a ship by Third Officer Dmitrii Rybalka , while on watch, a beautiful Venus sunrise over the rocky horizon of the Moon captured by Nicolas Lefaudeux , and a amazing star trail taken during confinement by Deepal Ratnayaka.
The jury was composed of:
Sue Prichard: Senior Curator del Royal Museums Greenwich
Imad Ahmed: Director de New Crescent Society
Dr Sheila Kanani: de Royal Astronomical Society
Yuri Beletsky: de las Campanas Observatory
Melissa Brobby: del Institute of Physics
Emily Drabek-Maunder: astrónomo del Royal Observatory Greenwich
László Francsics: astrofotógrafo de Hungarian Astrophotographers’ Association
Alan Sparrow: Director de UK Picture Editors’ Guild Awards
Steve Marsh: Editor de arte de BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Jon Culshaw: comedian and amateur astronomer
You can see the winning images in each category below . All of them can be seen in the exhibition inaugurated at the National Maritime Museum in London, United Kingdom, on September 18.
