This is the 15th running of the competition, which celebrates the best in amateur astrophotography from around the world.
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The winning images will feature in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum from 16 September 2023.
Winner – Our Sun category – A Sun question
A photograph of the Sun with a huge filament in the shape of a question mark. Solar filaments are arcs of plasma in the Sun’s atmosphere given shape by magnetic fields. Photo by Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau
Winner – Planets, comets and asteroids category – Suspended in a sunbeam
A unique view of Venus using infrared or ultraviolet false colour. By going beyond the visible part of the spectrum, a myriad of fine detail within the upper atmosphere of the planet is revealed. Photo by Tom Williams
Winner – Skyscapes category – Grand cosmic fireworks
Sprites are an extremely rare phenomenon of atmospheric luminescence that appear like fireworks. This photograph was taken from the highest ridge of the Himalayan mountains. Photo by Angel An
Winner – People and space category – Zeila
The most northerly part of Namibia’s Atlantic-facing coast is one of the most treacherous coastlines in the world and has gained the name the Skeleton Coast. The ship in this photo, Zeila, was stranded on 25 August 2008 and is still in a well-preserved state. The image shows the delicate colours of different star types. Photo by Vikas Chander
Winner – Young astronomer category – The running chicken nebula
The Running Chicken Nebula, IC2944, is located in the constellation of Centaurus, 6,000 light years away from the Earth. Embedded in the nebula’s glowing gas the star cluster Collinder 249 is visible. Photo by Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang
Winner – Aurora category – Brushstroke
An abstract aurora in the shape of a brushstroke. Unusually, the photographer decided to photograph the aurora in isolation. Location: Utsjoki, Lapland, Finland. Photo by Monika Deviat
Winner – Stars and nebulae category – New class of galactic nebulae around the star YY Hya
A team of amateur astronomers, led by Marcel Drechsler from Germany and Xavier Strottner from France, were able to make an important contribution to the study of the evolution of binary star systems: on old images of sky surveys, they discovered a previously unknown galactic nebula. At its centre, a pair of stars surrounded by a common envelope was found. On over 100 nights, more than 360 hours of exposure time were collected. The result shows an ultra-deep stellar remnant that the team has baptised ‘the heart of the Hydra’. Photo by Marcel Drechsler
Winner – Our Moon category – Mars-set
An occultation of Mars took place on 8 December 2022. During the occultation, the Moon passed in front of Mars, allowing the astrophotographer to capture both objects together. The image shows Mars behind the Moon’s southern side in impressive detail. Photo by Ethan Chappel
The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer – Sh2-132 Blinded by the Light
The Sh2-132 complex lies near the border of the Cepheus and Lacerta constellations and contains multiple deep sky structures. The photograph includes 70 hours of data, the rich interplay of all the gasses reveals something different each time you look at it. Photo by Aaron Wilhelm
Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation – Black echo
Taking audio source material from NASA’s Chandra Sonification Project, White visually captured the sound of the black hole at the centre of the Perseus Galaxy. The audio was played through a speaker onto which White attached a petri dish, blacked out at the bottom and then filled with about 3 mm of water. Using a macro lens and halo light in a dark room, White experimented with the audio and volumes to explore the various patterns made in the liquid. Photo by John White
Second place – Aurora category – Circle of light
A stunning photograph of a vivid aurora over Skagsanden beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway. The mountain in the background is Hustinden, which the aurora appears to encircle. Photo by Andreas Ettl
Second place – Galaxies category – The eyes galaxies
The Eyes Galaxies (NGC 4438) are the famous interacting galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. They’re small and require a large telescope to reveal their many components, such as the dust in the middle and the tiny flares on the left and right. Those tiny details have rarely been revealed in other amateur images. Photo by Weitang Liang
Second place – Our Sun category – Dark Star
A photograph of the Sun turned ‘inside-out’. The photographer inverted the rectangular image onto polar coordinates to highlight the smaller prominences that occur on the edge of the Sun. Photo by Peter Ward
Second place – Skyscapes category – Celestial Equator Above First World War Trench Memorial
Star trails above the preserved First World War trenches in Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park, Northern France. Taken over five hours, the camera captured the rotation of the sky, revealing the colourful stars. Photo by Louis Leroux-Gere
Overall winner – Andromeda, Unexpected
The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. It is undoubtedly one of the most photographed deep-sky objects ever. The new discovery of such a large structure in the immediate vicinity of the galaxy was all the more surprising. Photo by Marcel Drechsler/Xavier Strottner/Yann Sainty
Highly commended – Close encounters of the Haslingden kind
Haslingden’s Halo is an 18-meter diameter sculpture located in the hills of Lancashire. The photographer took inspiration from the Close Encounters of The Third Kind film poster to create her image. Photo by Katie McGuinness
Highly commended – Moon at nightfall
A photograph of a moonrise over the Xinghai Bay Bridge in Dalian. Atmospheric extinction alters the hue and brightness of the Moon when it is low on the horizon. In this photo, you can see the Moon appears brighter and less red as it rises in the sky. Photo by Haohan Sun
