Behold! The 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the 12 months Awards shortlist has been launched, showcasing a spectacular array of astrophotography pictures starting from photo voltaic prominences and auroras to distant galaxies and beguiling nebulas.
For the previous 17 years, the Royal Observatory Greenwich — supported by astronomy digital camera maker ZWO — has known as on the worldwide images neighborhood to compete in an open competitors celebrating the majesty and number of our evening sky.
The 2025 competitors noticed photographers from 69 nations submit over 5,500 entries to compete in a plethora of various classes to achieve recognition and, naturally, prize cash. The general winner of the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the yr will bag a £10,000 (about $13,560 U.S.) grand prize, whereas the photographers who come out on prime in every particular person class obtain £1,500 (about $2,030 U.S.) for his or her valiant efforts.
“At ZWO, we imagine that astrophotography will not be solely a option to document the cosmos, but additionally a option to encourage curiosity, foster schooling and construct communities that transcend borders,” mentioned ZWO founder Sam Wen in a press launch revealing the shortlisted pictures. “Everybody deserves an opportunity to attach with the universe — and thru our help, we hope to convey that have to extra folks.”
The winners of every class shall be introduced in an awards ceremony in September later this yr, with the victorious entries — and choose runners-up — later being exhibited on the Nationwide Maritime Museum in London.
Learn on to see the spectacular pictures shortlisted for the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the yr awards!
Auroras
This picture of a swirling inexperienced aurora was captured from a distant location on the Senja Peninsula in northern Norway by Filip Brebenda on Sept 12, 2024. Silvery birch timber dominate the foreground, whereas a rocky outcrop frames the aurora dancing via the sky above, which is mirrored in a placid pool of water between the trunks.
Photographer Daniel Zafra was capable of seize a uncommon incidence of a magenta and inexperienced aurora reflecting off the waters of California’s Mono Lake in October 2024, alongside protruding rocky formations.
Vincent Beudez imaged a wide ranging auroral show harking back to an arctic flower unfolding within the skies over Tromsø in northern Norway on April 4, 2024, framed by the snowy peaks of close by mountains. He used a Sony Alpha 7S III digital camera to get the shot.
Galaxies
A picture of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), as captured by astrophotographers Bence Tóth, Péter Feltóti, Bertalan Kecskés from Hungary over the course of a number of classes over November-December 2024. The galaxy might be seen present process a burst of star formation because of the tidal affect of a galactic neighbor, with the glowing crimson type of an emission nebula seen all through, giving the impression of a cosmic firework show.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) might be seen shining with the sunshine of numerous stars and nebulas on this picture taken from the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, China in late 2024. It took round 216 hours to seize the traditional gentle used within the creation of the picture, which exhibits the brilliant central bulge and spiral arms of the Milky Way‘s closest galactic neighbor in phenomenal element.
The barred spiral galaxy NGC 2997 — also referred to as the Antlia Cabbage Galaxy — is pictured surrounded by glowing crimson cosmic clouds on this shot by Xinran Li taken from Río Hurtado, Chile in January and February earlier this yr. The galaxy exists at a distance of 35 million light-years from Earth within the constellation Antlia and took round 10 hours of observing time to seize utilizing a spread of filters.
Our Moon
A distorted moon might be seen rising over the French château of Villebois-Lavalette on this shot by Flavien Beauvais. The shot was taken throughout the full moon part in November 2024 utilizing a Canon EOD R7 digital camera at the side of a Sigma 150-600 mm lens.
This composite picture captured by Chayaphon Phanitloet from the Nakhon Ratchasima area of Thailand depicts a interval in October 2024 when the moon slid in entrance of Saturn — seen to the left of the picture — blocking its gentle.
Photographer Karthik Easvur created this portrait of a supermoon looming giant within the sky over Delhi, India, in November 2024, by stitching collectively 24 separate pictures right into a seamless mosaic. The so-called “Beaver Moon” was captured utilizing a 6-inch aperture telescope at the side of a ZWO digital camera together with a number of extra useful peripherals and filters.
Our Solar
Zhang Yanguang was capable of seize this completely timed composite shot of the International Space Station (ISS) sweeping throughout the face of the sun from the Fujian area of China on Jan. 24 ofthis yr. The photographer deftly maintained the crisp profile of the house station when combining the pictures throughout post-processing, whereas revealing phenomenal element on the floor of our mother or father star.
This picture of a 311,000-mile-long (500,000 kilometers) photo voltaic prominence erupting from the solar was captured on Nov. 7, 2024 from Guangdong province in China by astrophotographer PengFei Chou. The picture is constructed from 20 stacked information units captured over the course of the hour-long eruption.
A creative view of the solar captured by photographer Damien Cannane, depicting the completely different phases of a photo voltaic eclipse. The arcs in between the eclipsed suns signify a phenomenon generally known as “Baily’s Beads,” which come up as daylight shines via valleys on the lunar floor within the moments earlier than and after totality.
Folks & Area
Tianyao Yang took this image of the July 2024 full moon behind skyscrapers within the Lujiazui district of Shanghai. The shot was the end result of 5 years of planning and was taken from a distance of 16.5 miles (26.5 km) utilizing an extended lens, permitting the photographer to present the moon an outsized look in comparison with the foreground buildings.
This image, taken from Songyang County, China by photographer Yujie Zhang in August 2024, exhibits the brilliant ribbon of the Milky Approach tumbling towards a group of geometric buildings mirrored in a foreground physique of water.
This placid scene taken with a Canon R6 Mark II digital camera by photographer Paul Joels captures the Milky Approach within the sky over a boathouse in Lulworth Cove within the U.Okay. A mess of stars might be seen shining down on the seaside vista, twinkling above a lone boat resting on the roadside.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is seen streaking via the sky above Honolulu, Hawaii, as captured from the Pu’u O Kaimukī Park by photographer Ran Shen on Oct. 12, 2024.
Chester Corridor-Fernandez captured this view of the Milky Approach setting parallel to the horizon over the Mount John Observatory in New Zealand on July 21, 2024. The MOA-II telescope — the most important telescope on New Zealand’s South Island — might be seen to the appropriate of the picture, observing the numerous stars populating the southern hemisphere evening sky.
Planets, Comets & Asteroids
A picture of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS captured from Namibia in southern Africa by photographers Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger in September final yr, that includes mud (gray) and ion (blue) tails. The “kinks” within the extra tenuous ion path are created because the solar wind pouring from our mother or father star impacts the particle path shed by the wandering comet.
This household portrait of solar system planets — excluding Earth for apparent causes — was captured with assistance from a 20-inch Dobsonian telescope in Bavaria, Germany, between September 2023 and December 2024 by astrophotographer Sophie Paulin. The planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — might be seen parading in a line from left to proper within the composite piece.
Skyscapes
Benjamin Barakat captured this picture of a lone tree standing in entrance of star trails from the Hidaybu district of Yemen on March 13, 2024 utilizing a Sony Alpha 7 IV digital camera.
A full moon is pictured rising over the Dolomite mountains in Italy by photographer Fabian Dalpiaz in November 2024, because the final of the daylight catches the higher slopes on a cloudless night.
This composite shot of the Milky Way was captured by Yoshiki Abe from the mouth of a distant cave within the coastal area of Yamaguchi, Japan on Oct. 12, 2024. The foreground picture was snapped throughout a quick window recognized to photographers because the “blue hour,” which happens across the time that the solar units, infusing the atmosphere with a blueish hue. Abe captured his picture of the Milky Approach later that very same evening.
A 23,000 pixel-wide panorama of the Utah Desert, imaged at evening by astrophotographer Jim Hildreth with the Milky Approach arcing excessive overhead amongst a sea of stars.
Photographer Andreas Karaolis captured this panorama of the Milky Approach’s Cygnus area streaking over a verdant hillside in Cyprus in October 2024. Karaolis additionally made use of the blue hour to seize the foreground picture, snapping a collection of 30- and 120-second exposures to seize it and the cosmic scene above, earlier than combining them within the post-processing step.
Stars & Nebulas
This composite view of the Christmas Tree Nebula and Rosetta Nebula was captured from the Deep Sky Chile Observatory in November and December final yr. The colourful view is the results of 150 hours of statement, throughout which the traditional gentle of the nebulas was collected utilizing a variety of filters.
A portrait of the “Working Hen Nebula” (IC 2944) — an infinite stellar nursery positioned within the constellation Centaurus — captured by astrophotographer Rod Prazeres from Queensland, Australia over the course of a number of nights in March and April 2024.
Shaoyu Zhang took this electrical view of the “Spaghetti Nebula” (Simeis 147) from Chile and Sichuan, China between December 2024 and February 2025. Over 148 hours of publicity time had been used to acquire a “full-spectrum” picture of the huge supernova remnant to disclose buildings ordinarily hidden behind a veil of cosmic mud.
The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Greatest Newcomer
A picture of the Abel 85 supernova remnant captured within the skies above China by Deqian Li. Li used 23.4 hours of sunshine information to create the picture, which was captured over the course of a six-day tenting journey in Hongyuan county, China with a Takahashi Epsilon-160ED telescope paired with a ZWO astronomy digital camera.
ZWO Younger Astronomy Photographer of the 12 months
A 22-megapixel panorama exhibiting the completely different levels of a complete solar eclipse captured throughout the April 8, 2024 occasion by photographer Louis Egan from Quebec, Canada. The ultimate piece was created utilizing round 200 particular person pictures.
Annie Maunder Open Class
Peter Ward’s “neon solar” impact was created utilizing ultraviolet information from NASA’s Photo voltaic Dynamics Observatory, which was remapped to colours seen to the bare eye, and turned “inside out” to encompass the solar.
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