«Astronomical Photographer of the Year» 2024 — 10 most interesting photos of the contest

The «Astronomy Photographer of the Year» contest has announced the stunning 2024 winners. From fascinating «mythical monsters to dizzying distant constellations, the shortlisted candidates showcase the magnificent beauty of the sky around us. Here are this year’s stunning nominees. The finalists include photos of the sun, the aurora borealis, rare astronomical phenomena, and distant galaxies.

«Night with the Valkyries» — Jose Miguel Picon Chimelis

In this image, a powerful geomagnetic storm creates a stunning color spectacle in the night sky of Iceland. The author took a panoramic photo near Mount Eystragorn — «one of the most amazing I’ve experienced while taking night photography».

«Solar pulsation» — Wenliang Li

In this vivid image by photographer Wenliang, L — is an explosive sunspot that ejects plasma from the surface of the Sun.

«Night surveillance» — Jakob Zahner

In this image from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, Isaac Newton’s huge telescope is under ominous space clouds from the constellation Cygnus.

«Arctic Dragon» — Karina Letelier Baeza

Carina Letelier Baeza captured the aurora borealis in the shape of a dragon. Its tail descends to the horizon, its bright green rays take the form of wings rising above the rocky pyramids of Arctic Henge in Iceland.

«Serpentine» — Paul Haworth

The author created this breathtaking image of stars over the ruins of an old pier and cracked clay on Snettisham Beach in Norfolk, UK.

«Galaxy Eater» — ShaRA (Shared Remote Astrophotography)

The interstellar clouds of CG 4 (Cometary Globule 4) form a terrifying shape that looks like it’s about to swallow the galaxy in this image taken by a team of astrophotographers.

«Blue parts of M45: Pleiades» — Sandor Bilicki

In this photo, Shandor Bilitsky captured the beauty of the Pleiades constellation. Also known as Messier 45 or the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades consist of thousands of the brightest stars. The constellation is located at a distance of 445 light years from the Earth.

«Cosmic fireworks: the Geminid meteor shower» — Jakob Zahner

This panorama shows the Geminidid meteor shower against the winter Milky Way in the night sky over La Palma. Jacob Zahner says he saw three meteors per minute during the peak of the shower.

«The cry of a dying star» — Jann Sainty

Jann Sainty captured the supernova Leo in this stunning image. The title is a reference to «The Scream», a famous painting by Edvard Munch — it is a scream that continues to echo through space after a star dies.

«Martian dementors» — Leonardo DiMaggio

The author created this eerie abstract image using a photo taken from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — a spacecraft that searches for water on Mars.

Source: Live Science