20 Shortlisted Images for Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020
World’s Best Space Photos – Shortlisted Images for Astronomy Photographer of The Year 2020
The Royal Observatory’s Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 has published 35 images shortlisted for the prize. Run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, London, 2020 has seen several entries to the competition from almost 70 countries around the globe.
The Royal Museums Greenwich is a top-10 UK visitor attraction. Royal Museums Greenwich is home to the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the iconic historic sailing ship Cutty Sark, the National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s House art gallery.
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Here is a selection of our favourite images from the competition
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Space and People
Meeting © Nicolai Brügger (Germany)
“After a long hike and a little bit of climbing to the top of the mountain, the photographer was able to see the Milky Way. He only had five minutes time to take the panorama shot before the clouds moved. The photographer and his friend are pictured standing on the edge, looking out at the sky and over the city of Füssen in Germany.”
Nikon D810 camera, Sigma 14 mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 4000, 33 x 20-second exposures
Milky Way and Meteor at Porthgwarra © Jennifer Rogers (UK)
“Porthgwarra is a sheltered fishing cove in the west of Cornwall and the U-shape of the narrow cove is perfect for framing the Milky Way. There was likely to be a boat in the cove but the photographer was very fortunate to find it perfectly positioned in the centre of the old slipway. The photographer shot several non-tracked sky exposures from the same tripod position to capture the cliffs and horizon (as these were blurred in the tracked shot) and in one, she was lucky enough to capture a meteor, which she copied into the final image. This is one of the photographer’s favourite locations in Cornwall and it was a magnificent night under the stars.”
Canon 5D Mk IV camera, ISO 1250 Sky: 17 mm f/4 lens, ISO 1250, 182-second exposure, Boat and foreground: 17mm f/8 lens, ISO 1250, 131-second exposure, Cliffs and meteor: 17 mm f/4 lens, 222-second exposure.
Beautiful Persian Gulf Nights © Mohammad Sadegh Hayati (Iran)
“On one of the many hiking trails along the coastline, the photographer discovered this incredible lookout. The scale of the vista encouraged the photographer to capture a 360 degree panoramic image of the entire sky using 60 15-second exposures. The movement of the clouds meant that the photographer had a short time to capture the Milky Way. The photographer is pictured, enjoying the wonderland he stumbled across.”
Nikon d750 camera, 24 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 8000, 60 x 15-second exposures.
Our Moon
39% Crescent Moon © Richard Addis (UK)
“This image of the Moon at 39% illumination was captured through eleven videos of different areas, which were stacked and then stitched together. The saturation process revealed the mineral compositions in the Lunar Basalts on the surface. These vivid browns and blues are due to high concentrations of titanium and iron. The photographer loves the contrast along the terminator and the close-up detail and clarity of this image.”
Celestron Nexstar 6SE telescope, Celestron Advanced GT mount, ZWO ASI120MC camera, 4,400 x 0.08-second exposures.
The Moon and the Shard © Mathew Browne (UK)
“After three failed attempts, the photographer finally got to shoot an image of London's iconic Shard skyscraper with a full moon behind it. The moon races through frame meaning the photographer only had a few minutes to capture the shot.”
Nikon D850 camera, 550 mm f/10 lens, ISO 320, 3 x 1/80-second exposures
Aurorae
Kynance Cove under the Milky Way © Louise Jones (UK)
“This image is only the photographer’s second attempt at shooting the Milky Way. It shows our galaxy over Kynance Cove in Cornwall, a beautiful spot with dark skis. It was taken on a cold, but fabulous night under the stars. As it was July, the sky was very blue, with full darkness only for about an hour. The foreground was taken at dusk and the sky is a stack of 4 images of 25 seconds taken later when the Milky Way appeared, the sky and foreground blended together in post processing.”
Nikon D7100 camera, Sigma 10-20 mm lens at 10 mm f/3.5, ISO 3200, 5 x 25-second exposures
Best Newcomer
Hamnøy Lights © Andreas Ettl (Germany)
“After two weeks of storm, clouds and snow in the Lofoten Islands, the sky finally cleared up, providing perfect conditions for hunting the northern lights. The photographer waited patiently in their car for the light show to begin and on the first sign of the aurora borealis in the sky, he set up his camera at this famous overlook of the idyllic fishing village Hamnøy. The image is a manual exposure blend consisting of one base image for the sky and foreground plus a total of seven bracketed images to balance the highlights and shadows in the fishing village and water.”
Nikon Z7 camera, Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 Di VC USD 17 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 800, 10-second exposure
Stokksnes Aurora © Ben Bush (UK)
“This image captures the stunning Stokksnes looking to the Vestrahorn and the most powerful and beautiful night of aurora the photographer had ever seen. He travelled 1250 miles to try and capture his dream. In order to get the shot, the photographer ended up knee-deep in the North Atlantic in -6 degrees Celsius. The challenge was to capture the reflections in the water, on the black sand beach, and also not to over-expose the aurora. The photographer describes this as a truly awe-inspiring experience and one he feels blessed to have witnessed and captured on camera.”
Nikon Z7 camera, 14 mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 2500, 15 x 4-second exposures
Galaxies
NGC 253 - Starbust Galaxy in Sculptor © Terry Robison (Canada)
“This image depicts an object that many will recognise in the southern hemisphere skies – NGC 253, The Sculptor Galaxy. It is an intermediate galaxy located within the constellation Sculptor and is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible to us. It is also one of the dustiest and currently undergoing a period of intense star formation. The photographer’s goals were to present this large and bright galaxy in a way that retains its subtle colouring and intricate textures throughout its disk.”
RCOS 10" telescope at f/9.1, AstroPhysics AP-900 mount, SBIG STL-11000 camera, L-RGB-Ha composite, 34 hours total exposure
The Triangulum Galaxy © Rui Liao (China)
“This sharp image shows off M33's blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In order to depict these star forming regions, the photographer has taken a total of 26.5 hours exposure time. For the photographer, the enjoyment comes in gazing at the ‘red flowers’ in the image, mingled in blue star clusters, and the satisfaction that his efforts paid off.”
GSO RC8 telescope at f/5.4 (with CCDT67 focal reducer), Sky-Watcher EQ8 mount, Atik One 6.0 camera, Ha-L-RGB composite, 26.5 hours total exposure
Skyscapes
The Red Lake of Stars © Bryony Richards (USA)
“Years ago, before over-fishing, Little Redfish Lake was called as such due to the vast numbers of salmon turning the lake a red colour. The red colouration is no longer seen because of salmon, but the colour of sunsets and airglow during the night still turn the waters a vibrant red. It is these beautiful warm echoes of red, combined with the mirror-like reflections of the Sawtooth Mountains in the distance and the alignment of the Milky Way with the mountains that make Little Redfish Lake one of the most spectacular places the photographer has ever shot at night. The photographer recalls that ‘we were fortunate enough that night to have the lakeshore to ourselves, just three of us, and a rather excited dog who tried his best not to run into our tripods! We spent the sunset here, waiting for the stars to come out and the Milky Way core to rise, marvelling at the red colour of the water.”
Sony A7riii camera, Sky: 50 mm f/2 lens, ISO 1600, 121-second exposure, Foreground: 50 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 1600, 111-second exposure, Reflection: 50 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 6400, 30-second exposure.
Something Old, Something New © Jay Evans (Australia)
“The incredible site of the old Lithgow Blast Furnace has been restored as a heritage icon in the area reflecting on the past history of the beginnings of the iron and steel industries in Australia. With some prior planning, visiting at night provides the mesmerising opportunity to capture the Galactic Core in the Milky Way as it passes overhead. The photographer took this opportunity to try out the first Astro shots captured using a new high megapixel camera, yet to be released.”
Sony ILCE-7RM4 camera, Sony Alpha 7R IV (ILCE-7RM4) and Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G Lens at 12 mm f/4, ISO 6400, 15-second exposure
Cold Night on the Yellowstone © Jake Mosher (USA)
“In mid-March, shortly after the core of our galaxy is visible above the horizon, it rises in the final hours of darkness before dawn. Shooting this panorama scene, while night-time fog hung low over riverside cottonwood trees and the distant mountains of the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness glowed from the light of countless stars, the photographer felt that he was able to capture a connectedness between this world and the one above – a hint of changing seasons, and a sense that Nature continues to provide countless wonders for all willing to stop and look.”
Nikon D850 camera, 35 mm f/4 lens, ISO 1600, 26 exposures of 17-185 seconds
Stars and Nedulae
Statue of Liberty Nebula © Martin Pugh (Australia)
“Photographed using narrowband filters to accentuate the energy levels occurring in each emission line, sulphur was mapped to red, hydrogen to green and oxygen to blue. An additional 4 hours per RGB channel were acquired and substituted into the image, particularly for the stars. While aptly titled the Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC 3576), the irony is that this is a southern hemisphere object. At lower left in the image is NGC 3603 containing the Starburst Cluster. NGC 3576 is located in the Carina arm of the Milky Way at approximately 20,000 light years distant.”
Planewave CDK 17" telescope at f/6.8, Bisque Paramount ME mount, SBIG STXL11002 camera, RGB-Ha-SII-OIII composite, Total exposure 35.5 hours
The Magnificent: Rho Ophiuchi Complex © Mario Cogo (Italy)
“This image captures the photographer’s favourite astrophotography field and one of the most vibrant, colourful nebulas in space. It shows many interesting deep-sky objects as Rho Ophiuchi the triple star surrounded by the blue reflection nebula IC 4604 on top-left, the red supergiant star Antares and one of closest globular cluster to the Solar System M4 to the right. This two panel mosaic was taken under the dark Namibian sky over two nights in August 2019.”
Takahashi FSQ106 ED APO refractor telescope at f/5, Astro-Physics Mach1 GTO mount, Canon EOS 6D Cooling CDS Mod camera, ISO 1600, 13 hours total exposure
Our Sun
Total Solar Eclipse, Venus and the Red Giant Betelgeuse © Sebastian Voltmer (Germany)
“The 50th Anniversary of ESO's La Silla Observatory culminated with a breath-taking and very clear Total Solar Eclipse. In a very long process, the photographer calibrated, aligned and stacked 96 frames together, revealing the streamers and the faint corona. Stars also became visible, especially the red giant Betelgeuse (left) which started dimming in the months after. For the different star brightnesses of the tiny star dots the photographer used his action set RealStars; so he was able to show the brightness of Betelgeuse in comparision to Bellatrix and the other stars during daytime.”
Nikkor 14-25 mm f/2.8 telescope at f/4, Manfrotto tripod, Nikon D800 camera, ISO 160, 96 x 0.2-second, 0.3-second and 0.6-second exposures
Eruption © Elena Pakhalyuk (Ukraine)
“The photographer was inspired to imagine what the Crimean peninsula would look like in the distant past, when thousands of volcanoes erupted on Earth. She used lighting and long exposure to illustrate this. The resulting image sees everything combined into one large panorama image and processed in a photo editor.”
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera, Sky: Canon 24 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 22 x 20-second exposures. Foreground: Samyang 14 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 1600, 23 x 20-second exposures.
Young Astronomy Photographer
Clouds Across The Moon © Casper Kentish (UK)
“The photographer wanted to get a good clear shot of the waxing crescent moon, but most of the time it was hidden by thick grey clouds. After waiting for things to clear up and successfully taking a couple of clear pictures he decided to keep shooting as the clouds covered the moon back up. The picture put the photographer in mind of what Neptune might look like; a huge blue ball of frozen mass.”
Skywatcher 200P telescope, super 25 wide angel lens, Dobsonian mount, Apple iPad (5th generation) camera, 3.3 mm f/2.4 lens, ISO 25, 1/125-second exposure.
Startrails in Namib Desert © Qiqige (Nina) Zhao (Australia)
“The image was taken while the photographer was staying in Sossus Dune Lodge, in the Namib Naukluft Park in Namibia. Situated in the tranquil and remote area, the lodge has the reputation of being the perfect place for stargazers. The photographer was intrigued by the warning sign in the lodge which warned guests to keep the doors shut in case baboons snuck in, so he spent the night expecting a baboon to spring into the shot”
Canon EOS 6D camera, 24 mm f/1.6 lens, ISO 500, 20-second exposure
Annie Mauder Prize
M16 © Alexios Theodorov (Russia)
“This entry tries to catch the feel of stargazing through basic optical instrument – a kind of Galileo's telescope. Special processing of the image includes converting to Lab, channel mixing, increasing contrast, and applying filters, with the aim of illustrating that images with limited colour range may be as stunning as full colour ones.”
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