Astronomy Photographer of the Year

These are some of the shortlisted images in this year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition organised by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The winners will be announced on Wednesday 9 September, and an exhibition of all the images opens on 10 September at the observatory.

Aurora

Starry sky Australia

Lighthouse

Temple of Poseidon

The Sword and the Rose

МаMagellanic Cloud

Imposition of 4 images of the Sun with different exposure

Forest fire on Mount Adams

From vast nebulae and distant galaxies to the intimacy of an evening’s star gazing by the camp fire, the images in 2010’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition reflect our enduring fascination with the night sky. Held by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG) and now in its second year, the competition attracted over 400 entries and saw back-garden enthusiasts pit themselves against professional photographers in locations as diverse as Hangzhou, China; Novosibirsk, Russia; the Mojave Desert, U.S.A.; Manila Bay in the Philippines, and across the UK.

Proving that you don’t need a degree in astronomy or a studio full of expensive equipment to take amazing pictures of the cosmos, the photographers behind some of the competition’s most beautiful images have their feet firmly planted on earth: a road sign surrounded by star trails, the yellow full moon rising over a Greek temple, a forest fire in Washington U.S.A. framed by stars. While fans of deep space can marvel at the dark blue centre of the Helix Nebula, the deep pinks of the Large Magellanic Cloud, and the almost perfect spiral of the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51.

The competition’s judges include Sky at Night’s Sir Patrick Moore, acclaimed photographer Dan Holdsworth and the ROG’s Public Astronomer Dr. Marek Kukula. The winners of the competition’s four categories and two special prizes will be announced on 9 September and an exhibition of all winning images opens on 10 September at the ROG. The exhibition is free of charge and runs until February 2011. Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010 is organised by the ROG and Sky at Night Magazine, whose editor Graham Southorn is also on the judging panel. All entries to the competition were submitted via a dedicated Flickr group (www.flickr.com/groups/astrophoto). The award ceremony can be followed live on Twitter: #Astrophoto10.

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