Winners of Annual Space Photo Competition Unveiled

The winners of one of the most prestigious space photo competitions in the world have been revealed, and the overall winner features an exciting scientific discovery.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest named the winner as an image taken by amateur astronomers from France and Germany. This image includes the surprising finding of a massive plasma arc near the Andromeda Galaxy, believed to be the remnants of a supernova or a planetary nebula.

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest giant spiral galaxy to the Milky Way and is heading towards it, although the collision is not expected to occur for another four to six billion years.

The winning image, titled “Andromeda, Unexpected” (shown below), was captured by Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner, and Yann Sainty. It prominently features the large plasma arc, which spans 1.5º of the night sky and is thought to be the largest structure of its kind in proximity to us.

Following its discovery, the arc has been named the Strottner-Drechsler-Sainty Object 1 (SDSO-1), as reported by Sky & Telescope.

“This astrophoto is both spectacular and valuable,” said László Francsics, one of the competition judges and an accomplished astrophotographer. “It not only presents Andromeda in a new way but also elevates the quality of astrophotography to a higher level.”

The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich with support from Liberty Specialty Markets and in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, received over 4,000 entries from 64 countries this year.

All the winning images, as well as those highly commended, will be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in London starting from Saturday, September 16, 2023.

Here are some of the winning images:

Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year: ‘The Running Chicken Nebula’

This strikingly beautiful picture was captured by two 14-year-old boys from China, Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang, according to judge and renowned astrophotographer Yuri Beletsky.

Aurorae: ‘Circle of Light’

This image by Andreas Ettl captures the beauty of the Northern Lights reflected on Skagsanden beach in Norway.

Stars And Nebulae: ‘The Dark Wolf – Fenrir’

James Baguley’s photograph showcases a molecular cloud that resembles a wolf.

Our Sun: ‘A Sun Question’

Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau captured this image depicting a large filament shaped like a question mark occurring on the Sun.

Skyscapes: ‘Grand Cosmic Fireworks’

Angel An’s winning photograph showcases the rare phenomenon of atmospheric luminescence.

Author: OpenAI