AWESOME Images Of The Heavens!

The Royal Observatory Greenwich shortlisted 34 images for its Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2023 competition from thousands of entries received from all over the world.

These shortlisted images include star trails over the First World War trench memorial in Vimy, northern France, the Milky Way over an abandoned diamond processing plant in Namibia, and Jupiter flanked by two of its moons, Io and Europa.

Awe-inspiring scenes of the Milky Way, vibrant star trails racing across the night sky and spiral galaxies are features of the shortlist for this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

Let us take a look at 17 of these wonderful images of the heavens in the first part of the feature.

Published with kind permission from The Royal Observatory Greenwich.

 

Arctic Gates by Daniel Viñé Garcia

The Northern Lights over the mammoth sundial Arctic Henge, which is inspired by Norse mythology.

The henge is located in Raufarhöfn, one of the northernmost towns in Iceland.

Taken with a Sony Alpha 7RIII camera; Sky: 12 mm f/2.8, ISO 2000, 2.5-second exposure; Foreground: f/16, ISO 400, 3 x 4-second exposures

Location: Arctic Henge, Raufarhöfn, Iceland

 

Emerald Roots by Lorenzo Ranieri Tenti

The Northern Lights above the famous Icelandic mountain, Vestrahorn.

The aurora is reflected on the black sand beach and the rising moon makes the sand ripples appear golden.

Taken with a Sony ILCE-7S camera, 14 mm f/2.8, ISO 6400, 25-second exposure; Foreground: 23 seconds, Aurora: 8 seconds

Location: Vestrahorn, Stokksnes, Iceland

 

Aurora Over the Great Pollet Sea Arch by Brendan Alexander

The Northern Lights over the Great Pollet Sea Arch, Ireland captured as the Moon set.

The photo was taken shortly after a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun on 24 February 2023. This allowed the aurorae to be seen in large parts of the UK.

Taken with a Canon EOS 6D camera, fixed tripod, Sigma 20 mm f/1.8 lens, 20 mm f/2.8, ISO 6400, 13-second, total exposure (two frames); Sky: 7.5-second exposure; Foreground: 5.5-second exposure

Location: Great Pollet Sea Arch, Fanad Peninsula, County Donegal, Ireland

 

Curtain of Light by Andreas Ettl

A photograph of an auroral substorm which suddenly formed, throwing an incredible curtain of light over Olstind mountain.

After just two shots, the lights had faded away into the night.

Taken with a Nikon Z7 camera, 17 mm f/2.8, ISO 1600, 10-second exposure

Location: Hamnøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

 

Nebulae of the Small Magellanic Cloud by Jonathan Lodge

This image combines multiple objects.

Dominating the image is the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a dwarf irregular galaxy around 200,000 light years from the Milky Way.

47 Tucanae, at the top of the image, and NGC 362, to the left of the Small Magellanic Cloud, are much closer to Earth and unrelated to the SMC. Extensive nebulosity is revealed by using narrowband filters.

Taken with a Takahashi FSQ-106ED telescope (with 0.73 x focal reducer), Astrodon SHOLRGB 2GEN filter, Paramount MX+ mount, FLI ProLine 16803 camera, 382 mm f/3.6, 29 hours total integration

Location: Heaven's Mirror Observatory, Yass Valley, New South Wales, Australia

 

NGC 3521: Marquise in the Sky by Mark Hanson; Mike Selby

NGC 3521, a flocculent intermediate spiral galaxy, is surrounded by dust and has numerous star-forming areas and a luminous centre.

Rarely seen hydrogen alpha jets have been captured.

Taken with a Planewave CDK 1000 and CDK 700 telescopes, Chroma filters, FLI 16803 camera, 6,000 mm f/6 and 4,550 mm f/6.5, multiple 900-second Luminance exposures (19 hours total exposure), 5-hour exposure per RGB filter

Location: El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Chile

 

NGC 1097 and Tidal Tails by Mark Hanson; Mike Selby

NGC 1097 is a barred spiral galaxy 50 million light years away. Known for its four optical jets which could be fossil star streams, trails left over from the capture and disruption of a much smaller galaxy in the large spiral's ancient past.

There are also two satellite galaxies NGC 1097 A and B, one which seems to be lurking in the spiral arms of NGC 1097.

Taken with a Planewave CDK 1000 and CDK 700 telescopes, Chroma filters, FLI 16803 and QHY461 cameras, 6,000 mm f/6 and 4550 mm f/6.5, multiple 900-second Luminance exposures (12 hours total exposure), 9-hour H-alpha exposure and 5-hour RGB exposures per filter

Location: El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Chile

 

Mare Crisium: From Light to Dark by Andrea Vanoni

Mare Crisium is a lunar sea located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis.

This mosaic photograph is made up of two high-resolution images showing a multitude of craters inside the basin.

Taken with a Newton Ares 405mm F4.5 telescope, Baader R-filter, Sky-Watcher EQ8 mount, ZWO ASI178MM camera, 6000 mm f/20, 1/400 exposure

Location: Porto Mantovano, Mantua, Lombardy, Italy

 

Crescent Moon in a Magical Sunset by Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau

Composite image of three exposures showing the sunset on 1 August 2022 in Rafaela, Argentina.

The crescent Moon has 16 per cent of its surface illuminated and the clouds appear an intense red.

Taken with a Canon EOS 90D camera, 600 mm f/6.3, ISO 800, three exposures between 1/400 and 1/100-seconds

Location: Rafaela, Santa Fe, Argentina

 

Ball of Rock by Rich Addis

This is a composite of an image of the Moon 78% illuminated and an image of the full Moon.

Assembling close-up shots to create a mosaic of the whole Moon is complex as the perspective changes slightly during a lunar orbit.

Taken with a Celestron 6SE SCT telescope, Advanced GT mount, ZWO ASI120MC camera, 1500mm 6”, Gain 50, Full Moon: multiple 1-millisecond exposures; Waxing Gibbous: multiple 1.6-millisecond exposures

Location: Wallasey, Wirral, Merseyside, UK

 

The Great Solar Flare by Mehmet Ergün

The Sun photographed moving towards its maximum cycle.

A large 700,000km long solar flare erupts to the left of the image.

The current solar cycle, 25, started in 2019 and is increasing in strength. It will peak in a few years' time, then weaken over the following years before another cycle starts anew.

Taken with a LUNT LS60 B1200 Double Stack telescope, Rainbow RST-135 mount, Player One Astronomy Neptune-M 178M camera, 500 mm f/8.3, Gain 13, 1.5 second exposure

Location: Traisen, Germany

 

Grazing Mammoths by Rafael Schmall

This photograph captures a solar prominence on the limb of the Sun.

Using careful processing the photographer has elevated this everyday solar activity.

Taken with a Lunt LS 100 H-alpha telescope, Fornax 150/200 mount, ZWO ASI294 camera, 700 mm f/7, Gain 100, ISO 100, 2.5-millisecond exposure

Location: Zselic Park of Stars, Zselickisfalud, Hungary

 

Solar Flare X1 from AR2994 in 'Motion' by Miguel Claro

Photograph of the Sun taken from a 27-minute timelapse of a solar, flare which took place on 30 April 2022.

Taken with a Sky-Watcher Esprit ED120 telescope, Daystar Quark Chromosphere filter, Sky-Watcher EQ6 mount, Player One Apollo M-Max Solar camera, 840 mm, 900 frames at 9.1 ms per frame (recorded as video at 109 FPS)

Location: Dark Sky Alqueva region, Évora district, Portugal

 

China Space Station Transits Active Sun by Letian Wang

The Sun photographed showing the transit of the China Space Station (CSS).

The image of the CSS was produced by selecting the nine clearest photos from captured video frames.

Taken with a Lunt 152T telescope, Rainbow RST-135 mount, TeleVue 2X Barlow lens, ZWO ASI432MM camera, 900 mm f/6, 0.8-millisecond and 1.3-millisecond exposures

Location: Beijing, China

 

Sperrgebiet by Vikas Chander

This photograph was taken in Bogenfelsin, Namibia. Formally known as Sperrgebiet, this area was once occupied by German colonialist mining for diamonds.

The settlements they built are now ghost towns, seen here is a decayed processing plant.

Taken with a Nikon D850 camera, 21 mm f/2.8, ISO 800, 30-second exposure

Location: Bogenfels, Namib Desert, Namibia,

 

Dolbadarn Castle, Home of Welsh Princes by Robert Price

This photograph was taken at Dolbadarn Castle, a late 12th-century castle located above Llanberis in the heart of Eryri.

The core of the Milky Way can be seen rising behind the castle and the Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) range of mountains.

Taken with a Canon EOS 6D Mark II camera, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini mount, 24 mm f/2.8, ISO 800; Sky: 25 x 120-second exposures; Foreground: 10 x 45-second exposures

Location: Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom

 

Pandora's Box by Derek Horlock

The Milky Way viewed behind a graffiti of Pandora by Wild Drawing (WD) a Balinese artist on the Greek island of Naxos.

In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a jar – or box – releasing all the evils of humanity into the world.

The wall is part of an abandoned beach hotel complex where graffiti now covers the walls.

Taken with a Nikon Z 6II camera; Sky: 35 mm f/2.8, ISO 1000, 120-seconds x 6 panned images; Foreground: 24 mm f/6.3, ISO 1000, 60-second exposure

Location: Alyko Beach Naxos, Greece

 

The competition, now in its 15th year, returns with an expert panel of judges from the worlds of art and astronomy.

The winners of the competition's nine categories, two special prizes and the overall winner will be announced on September 14, 2023.

After which the winning images will be displayed in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum from September 16 alongside a selection of exceptional shortlisted images.

Photographs curated by Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com