Every year, the Royal Greenwich Observatory considers photographs of space for its Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. The sixteenth edition of the competition will not disappoint. From distant spinning galaxies to the brilliant aurora borealis on our own planet, this year’s competition entrants showcase everything the heavens have to offer.
If you’re in the London area, you can view the shortlisted photos in person at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. But if you’re not, you can check out the shortlisted finalists below.
“Cosmic Fireworks, Geminid Meteor Shower”
The colorful flashes are the Geminid meteor shower as seen from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. The Milky Way also appears in the background.
“Milky Way Mimicry”
Located 30 million light-years from Earth, galaxy NGC 6744 resembles what our own galaxy would look like from that distance.
“Night with the Valkyries”
A beautiful combination of pink, yellow and green illuminates the sky above Iceland’s Eystrahorn mountain during a geomagnetic storm in December 2024.
“Whale Sailing on the Sun”
This strikingly detailed image reveals the surface of the Sun. Towards the upper left quarter of the Sun, a plasma filament that looks a bit like a whale “swims” across the surface of the star.
“Abandoned house”
An abandoned house in the Namib Desert, with the Milky Way hanging above it, presents a stunning contrast. The shot reminds me a bit of the landscapes in Courage the Cowardly Dog – anyone else?
“Ancestral Rocks”
These rock formations are located in a caldera in the Teide National Park in the Canary Islands. Behind the formations is the arc of the Milky Way.
“Arctic Dragon”
As the name suggests, the aurora over Iceland’s Arctic Henge resembles a bright green dragon.
“Close Encounters Auroral Touch the Milky Way”
The deep red Aurora Australis below the arc of the Milky Way as seen from New Zealand’s Castle Hill.
“Cosmos in Reflection”
This trippy image captures the reflection of light from various sources in the night sky, reflecting off some of the 12,000 mirrors at a power plant in China.
“The Earth and Milky Way Galaxy Show”
A volcanic crater in Japan with the Milky Way above it.
“GUM 12 the Gum Nebula (Vela Supernova Remnant)”
This filamentous blue structure is part of the supernova Vela, which exploded about 11,000 years ago.
“Hunting Moon and the ISS”
October’s full moon is also called the Hunter’s Moon. In the foreground of the natural satellite is the International Space Station (bottom right).
“M81, a spiral galaxy of grand design”
A galaxy 11.75 million light-years away, sitting in the constellation Ursa Major.
“M100 (Hair Dryer Galaxy) and Ceres”
Dwarf planet Ceres is seen here as four bright spots passing in front of the Blowdryer Galaxy (formally M100).
“Scream of a Dying Star”
This eerie shot of a supernova’s afterglow takes its name from Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”; indeed, the stellar remnants resemble a howling human.
“Misty Mountains”
Dust and gas structures of the Pelikán Nebula, seen through a telescope in Hungary.
“Martian Dementors”
The Martian landscape as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The painting abstracts the landscape to such an extent that the terrain looks like a piece of some menacing creature.
“Watching at Night”
A stunning shot of the Isaac Newton Telescope in the Canary Islands, with the Cygnus region of the Milky Way visible in the upper right.
“Run to Carina”
In this stunning photo from Namibia, a stone statue of a man is in mid-stride. The Carina Nebula – which the Webb Space Telescope imaged as one of its first science targets – can be seen in the upper right.
“Saturn with Six Moons”
Behold Saturn, the ringed planet, accompanied by six of its moons. On the left you can see Rhea, Enceladus and Mimas as tiny dots. Dione can be seen in the lower right, Titan in the upper right, and Tethys is just about to disappear behind Saturn itself.
“Serpentine”
These are the remains of the pier at Snettisham Beach in Norfolk under a long exposure of the stars in the night sky.
“Solar Pulsation”
Shown here is a sunspot exploding on the surface of the Sun. Sunspots are darker regions on the Sun’s surface associated with the star’s magnetic field.
“Blue details of M45 Pleiades”
The glowing blue lights of the Pleiades as seen from Nerpio in Spain.
“Dance of Jupiter’s Moons”
Jupiter with its moons Io and Ganymede. Io is a compelling research target for scientists due to its barren landscape covered in volcanoes.
“The Fire-Spitting Dragon”
Here is another aurora resembling the mythical flying snake. This photograph is in black and white, an interesting approach to one of the most vibrant natural phenomena on Earth.
“Galaxy Eater”
This ominous shot spells doom for the galaxy (top left), which is threatened by CG4, a giant cloud of gas and dust in space.
“The Inner Dust Lanes of M104 (The Sombrero Galaxy)”
This image, taken with a telescope at the El Sauce Observatory in Chile, shows the incredibly flat galaxy M104, or Sombrero Galaxy, with dust seeping through the object.
“International Space Station Daily Transit of the Moon”
Composite image showing the ISS passing over the surface of the Moon.
“The Palette of the Himalayas”
The rainbow of the solar corona as seen in the altostratus clouds above the Himalayan mountains.
“Total Solar Eclipse”
Probably the obligatory picture of the total solar eclipse. This one was captured in Australia in April 2023; the image consists of seven overlapping photographs that capture different states of the eclipse.