From fascinating ‘mythical monsters’ to stunning distant constellations, the 2024 Astro Photographer of the Year nominees showcase the exquisite beauty in the sky around us. Here are this year’s amazing nominees.
Night with the Valkyries — Jose Miguel Picon Chimelis
In this image, a powerful geomagnetic storm creates a stunning display of multi-colored hues in the night sky in Iceland.
“There was a KP7 storm forecast [a strong geomagnetic storm that can cause auroras and affect electrical power systems] and I was excited about what I might see,” the photographer José Miguel Picón Chimelis he said declaration.
He took a panoramic photo near the Eystrahorn mountain, capturing a scene full of vibrant colors, which he described as “one of the most amazing I’ve seen on my night photography trips”.
Solar Pulsation — Wenlian Li
In this brilliant display of energy, photographer Wenlian Li captured an exploding sunspot spewing glowing plasma from the sun’s surface.
Observations at night — Jakob Sahner
In this shot from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, Isaac Newton’s huge telescope is positioned below the ominous cosmic clouds of the Cygnus constellation.
“The Cygnus region, with its bright and glowing star-forming regions, is one of my favorite parts of the night sky. You can see it in the upper right corner of the image,” photographer Jakob Sahner he said in a statement.
Cygnus, which means “swan” in Latin.is a northern constellation located above the Milky Way.
Related: The Milky Way will be visible without binoculars this summer. Here are the key nights to watch.
Arctic Dragon — Carina Letelier Baeza
Carina Letelier Baeza captures the northern lights in the shape of a kite. Its tail dips toward the horizon, and the bright green hues take on the shape of wings that rise above the rock pyramids at Iceland’s Arctic Henge.
Serpentine — Paul Haworth
Paul Haworth created this stunning image of radial stars above the ruins of an old pier and cracked mudflats at Snettisham Beach in Norfolk, UK
“I named this image ‘Serpentine’ because I like the curving channel in the swamp, the mirroring stars and the beautiful scaly texture of the mud cracks,” Haworth said in a statement.
Galaxy Devourer Team — ShaRa (Shared Remote Astrophotography).
The interstellar cloud CG 4 (Cometary Globule 4) forms a monstrous shape as if ready to engulf the universe in this image taken by a team of astrophotographers known as ShaRA (Shared Remote Astrophotography).
The peculiar formation of gas clouds and dust is classified as a “cometary globule” due to its comet-like shape and is often called a “cometary globule”.God’s hand” because of its resemblance to an arm stretching across space.
Along with these names, a member of the astrophotography team noticed its resemblance to two famous fictional monsters.
“Is it the space sand worm of Arrakis from ‘Dune’ or the terrifying Graboid from the movie ‘Tremory’?” ShaRa group member Alessandro Ravagnin said in a statement.
Blue details of M45: Pleiades — Sandor Biliczki
In this picture Sandor Biliczki captured the beauty of the Pleiades constellation.
Also known as Messier 45 or the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades are made up of thousands of stars, but are known for their seven brightest stars and are located 445 light-years from Earth. NASA.
Due to light pollution in Budapest, Biliczki traveled to Spain to photograph the constellation.
“The Pleiades are a popular target among astrophotographers, but many fine details still remain to be discovered,” Biliczki said in a statement.
Cosmic Fireworks: The Geminid Meteor Shower — Jakob Sahner
This panorama captures the Geminid meteor shower in front of the entire winter Milky Way in the night sky above La Palma.
Jakob Sahner said he saw three meteors per minute in his field of vision during the peak of the shower.
Scream of a Dying Star – Yann Sainty
Yann Sainty captured the supernova Cygnus in this haunting image titled “Scream of a Dying Star.”
The title is a reference to “The Scream,” a famous Edvard Munch painting that, according to the image’s caption, symbolizes the scream that continues to echo through the universe after a star dies.
Sainty took advantage of the lack of light pollution and long exposure times to capture rare details of the Cygnus Loop, such as the outer layers of the supernova remnant.
Martian Dementors — Leonardo Di Maggio
Leonardo DiMaggio created this eerie abstract landscape image using a photo taken from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) – a spacecraft on a mission to find evidence of water on Mars.