Live Science is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s why you can trust us
By published
The heavens look gorgeous through the lenses of expert astrophotographers. Nebulas, galaxies, the moon and sun, and even the stars take on an artistic glow when captured with the right eye, equipment and light. Here’s a look at stunning astronomy images from the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. (Read more about the competition and its winners.)
The photograph is « moody, serene, perfectly captured and expertly processed. You feel as if you could reach into the sky and place this onto your finger, » said contest judge Steve Marsh.
(Equipment used: Fujifilm XT-4 camera; Sun: 386 mm f/10 lens, ISO 160, 1/2000-second exposure; Moving cloud: ND1000 filter, 386 mm f/16 lens, ISO 160, 1-second exposure)
(Equipment used: William Optics ZenithStar 61II APO telescope, Williams Optics Flat 61 lens at f/5.9, Vixen GPD SkySensor 2000PC mount, Canon EOS 760D camera; Sky, sun and comet: ISO 200–800, 1/800–0.6-second exposures; Moon: ISO 200–800, 0.6-second exposures; Prominences and Baily’s beads: ISO 200, 1/4000-second exposures)
« This beautiful large prominence graced the limb of the Sun over several days and was recorded in good seeing conditions, » Alan said in a statement. « Good seeing conditions here refer to the steadiness of the Earth’s atmosphere rather than to cloudless skies. Only when the atmospheric turbulence is low can fine details and structures be seen with clarity. »
(Equipment used: Astro-Physics 92 mm f/4.8 Stowaway refractor telescope working at 1.7 m focal length with Baader FFC, 90 mm Coronado Solarmax Ha filter, Astro-Physics 1200 mount, Grasshopper 2MP monochrome streaming camera, 1/1000-second exposure)
« I was keeping watch at night as Third Officer on the bridge of the ship, when I noticed in the sky a tiny white band approaching like a snake, » Rybalka said in a statement. « I knew already, this is it, this is that I was waiting for. I took my camera, went to the bridge wing, took my position and started waiting, like a hunter waiting for its prey. A few minutes later, the sky was full of bright green lights dancing in darkness and shining over everything on their way. »
(Equipment used: Sony ILCE-7M3 camera, 28 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 100, 25-second exposure)
« It was a quiet, calm night at this lake watching the moonrise when suddenly the aurora became very strong and started to dance quickly, » Kast said. « Further out on the lake there was fog which gave the Moon a nice circle as well. The reflections were magical! »
Equipment used: Nikon D850 camera, 15 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1.6-second exposure
Equipment used: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera, 24 mm f/2.5 lens, ISO 2500, 16 x 2.5-second exposures
Equipment used: Nikon D810a camera, 40 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 8000, 1000 x 6-second exposures
« In ideal circumstances, it is just possible to see this galaxy with the naked eye despite being more than two and a half million light years away. » Russell said in a statement. « Most magnified images concentrate on the vibrancy and clarity of the billions of stars within. Here, we have something rather different, highlighting the delicate nebulosity of the galaxy. The planets forming around the new stars within those stellar nurseries may one day teem with life of their own. »
Equipment used: Takahashi FSQ106 EDX4 530 mm telescope at f/5 and PlaneWave 14″ CDK 2543 mm telescope at f/7.2, Chroma filters, Software Bisque Paramount MX+ and Paramount ME-II mounts, RB-SII-Ha-OIII composite, 49.5 hours total exposure
Equipment used: Planewave CDK 17″ telescope at f/6.8, Astrodon filters, Software Bisque Paramount ME mount, SBIG STXL-11002 camera, L-RGB-Ha composite, 27.5 hours total exposure
Equipment used: Celestron C11 2800 mm telescope at f/10, iOptron iEQ30 mount, Basler ACA2500-14GC camera. Occultation: 1 x 2.5-millisecond exposures. Venus: 50 x 2.5-millisecond exposures. Moon: 200 x 15-millisecond exposures
Equipment used: Nikon Z6 II camera, 14 mm f/5.6 lens, ISO 200, 6 x 15-second exposures
Equipment used: Self-built Dall-Kirkham 405 mm telescope at f/16, self-built Alt-Azimuth fork mount, Astrodon RGB filters, ZWO ASI120MM camera, 9,000 x 0.0625-second exposures
Equipment used: Sony ILCE-6600 camera, 8 mm f/4 lens; Foreground: ISO 1600, 8-second exposure; Sky: ISO 1000, 844 x 30-second exposures
Equipment used: Tamron 24–70 mm telescope at f/2.8, Nikon D810a camera, ISO 800, 5-second exposure
German photographer Nicholas Roemmelt captured this shot in the snowy mountains of Tyrol, Austria, as astronomical dawn broke over his camping spot. The judges awarded this photograph a « highly commended » recognition in the « People and Space » category.
« The beginning of the astronomical dawn usually marks the end of the shooting for the astro landscape photographer as the Milky Way and its wonderful colours are quickly fading. But this short period in between the night and the very beginning of the new day has always been a very special moment for me, » Nicholas said. « It is probably the most calm time of the day and somehow ‘soothes my soul.' »
Equipment used: Canon R(a) camera; Sky: 20 mm f/4 lens, MSM rotator, ISO 6400, 5 x 60-second exposures; Foreground: f/2.8 lens, ISO 2500, multiple 1/10–8-second exposures
Equipment used: Sony a7R III camera, SkyWatcher Star Adventurer star tracker, 70 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 1-minute exposure
« This picture of Venus took my breath away. I was drawn to the contrast between darkness and light. The extended crescent resembles our Moon and yet is different, evoking a sense of familiarity and otherworldliness at the same time, » said competition judge Imad Ahmed.
Equipment used: Sony ILCE-7RM4 camera; Sand and sky: 70 mm f/8 lens, ISO 400, Sand: 30-second exposure, Sky: 1-second exposure; Moon: 200 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 100, Moon face: 2.5-second exposure, Moon edge: 1/100-second exposure
Mount Etna erupts in Sicily while the moon floats above it all in this runner-up shot in the « Skyscapes » category.
« In February 2021, Etna showed intense volcanic activity spewing ash columns and lava fountains more than 500 metres high. These were mostly located near the new south-east crater which poured numerous lava flows into the Bove Valley, » photographer Dario Giannobile said. « They were short in duration but accompanied by intense activity that fractured the structure of the crater from which the flows poured. On 25 February, Mount Etna again showed intense activity and I placed myself at the Piano Bello refuge, calculating the exact position so that the Moon would set near the crater, aligning itself just above. »
Equipment used: Canon EOS 6D camera, Sigma 150–600 mm lens at 347 mm f/5.6; Foreground: ISO 800, 5-second exposure; Moon: ISO 100, 1/125-second exposure
« This incredible phenomenon lasted for ten days in total and promised good luck for the New Year in Chinese folklore, » the photographer said. « If Van Gogh saw this beautiful scenery, he would certainly marvel at the extraordinary craftsmanship of nature saying how fantastic it is. »
Equipment used: Canon 6D2 camera, Sigma 546 mm f/8 lens, ISO 100, 1/640-second exposure
Equipment used: Takahashi FSQ130 telescope at f/5, Chroma Narrowband filters, Paramount ME mount, QHY600M camera, L-RGB-Ha-SII-OIII composite; 16.1-hours total exposure
Equipment used: Astro Systeme Austria 500 mm Newtonian telescope at f/3.8, Astrodon filters, ASA DDM85 Equatorial Mount, FLI Proline PL16803 camera, Ha-SII-OIII composite, 2 hours 42 minutes total exposure
« This is an image that every astronomer and astrophotographer wants to see at least once in their lifetime: the entire, pure Cygnus supernova remnant, cleared from every disturbing element, » said László Francsics, competition judge. « As a result, this calm, emblematic bubble structure emerges from the dark, with uncountable details. This astro-image is a unique photograph. »
Equipment used: Takahashi FSQ-106EDX III telescope with f/3 0.6x reducer, Chroma filters, Astro-Physics Mach1GTO CP3 mount, ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool camera, Ha-SII-OIII composite, 168 hours total exposure
Equipment used: Celestron C8 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, UV/IR cut filter, Celestron AVX mount, ZWO ASI-224-MC camera; Sun: 200 mm f/10 lens, Baader filter, 750 x 18-millisecond exposures; Moon: Omni 2x Barlow 200 mm f/10 lens, 2,250 x 10-millisecond exposures; Planets: Omni 2x Barlow 4000 mm f/20 lens; multiple 7–46-millisecond exposures
Equipment used: SkyWatcher Equinox ED120 double refractor telescope at f/19, Astrodon filters, NEQ-6 Pro mount, QSI 660 WSG-8 camera, 5.75 hours total exposure
« This image makes me think of a beach where the waves are hitting the coast during a stormy evening, » van der Hoeven said. « I made this image with my father’s telescope and camera on a winter evening in November. »
Equipment used: WO Spacecat51 telescope at f/4.9, SkyWatcher NEQ6 mount, QSI 583WS camera, 26 x 1200-second exposures
Equipment used: Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope at f/10, Celestron AVX mount, ZWO ASI-224MC camera, 120 x 1-second exposures
« 47 Tucan is one of the jewels of the southern sky and is located just above the Small Magellanic Cloud in the balmy summer nights of the southern hemisphere, » Hang said. « It is a colourful cluster with a shining heart – a pearl in the Universe. »
Equipment used: Takahashi Epsilon 210 telescope at f/2.9, Astro-Physics mount, Nikon D610 camera, ISO 800, 90 x 2-minute exposures
Equipment used: Sony ILCE-6500 camera, 210 mm f/8 lens, ISO 400, 1/350-second exposure
« The patterns formed by Saturn, its rings and its moons are truly magnificent, » Di Maggio said. « The photographs have echoes of architecture, nature, art and design, and are just as artistically inspirational as they are crucial for scientific study. »
Originally published on Live Science.
Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter.
Thank you for signing up to Live Science. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab).
© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.
Leave a comment