Stunning image of Andromeda galaxy takes top astronomy photography prize of 2023

 

Stunning view of Andromeda Galaxy

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has announced the winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year, during an award ceremony held Sept. 14. 

This was the Royal Observatory Greenwich's fifteenth year holding the contest, which garnered more than 4,000 submissions from 64 different countries for 2023. 

A shortlist of winning submissions was released in July, and many of those spectacular images have made a reappearance. 

As the world's largest astrophotography competition, Royal Observatory Greenwich divides winners into 11 categories, and from those chooses an overall winner. 

This year's top spot came from the Galaxies category and was awarded to Marcel Drechsler, from Germany, and French photographers Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty, with their photo of the Andromeda galaxy. 

This winning photo of the Andromeda galaxy from the amateur astronomer team led by Drechsler, Strottner, and Sainty is titled Andromeda, Unexpected, for the large, blue plasma arc pictured next to our nearest galactic neighbor. 

The plasma streak was, in fact, a discovery all on its own, according to a release from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, and is now being studied by scientists as possibly the largest phenomenon of its type in our little corner of the universe. 

Runner-up and highly commended entries for the Galaxies category went to Weitang Liang, from China, and Paul Montague, from Australia, for their Monika Deviat, from Canada, won this year's best aurora photograph with her image, Brushstroke. 

The singularity of this one aurora, according to the competition's judges, set it aside from the usual "earthly perspective," they said, "evoking the arts of brush-painting and calligraphy." 

Aurorae runner-up and highly commended recognitions were awarded to Andreas Ettl, from Germany, and Chester Hall-Fernandez, from New Zealand, with their photos Circle of Light and Fire on the Horizon, respectively. 

Mars and The Moon

Ethan Chappel shot this photo of Mars and the moon during the Dec. 8 occultation in 2022, from Cibolo, Texas. Mars-Set shows the Red Planet setting behind the moon's southern hemisphere, shining bright during the rare alignment. 

Sundown and last full moon

Tom Williams, from the UK, and Miguel Claro, from Portugal, won runner-up and highly commended marks for their submissions, Sundown on the Terminator and Last Full Moon of the Year Featuring a Colourful Corona During a Close A Sun Question was taken by Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau for the Our Sun category winner. 

The Great Solar Flare ?

The image features a large question mark-shaped solar filament rising from the sun's surface and shows our star in incredible detail. 

Our Sun runner-up and highly commended awards went to Peter Ward for his photo, Dark Star, and Mehmet Ergün for The Great Solar Flare.