The winning images of the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition have been revealed by the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
This year’s winning image is Andromeda, Unexpected, which is not only a dramatic deep-sky astrophoto showing the closest spiral galaxy to our own, but also subject of scientific study.
Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty captured the image, which shows a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest major galaxy to our own Milky Way, and astronomers are currently investigating the plasma arc seen in the image.
It could be the largest such structure nearest our Galaxy in the Universe.
The winning images of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, now in its 15th year, were announced on 14 September 2023 in an online ceremony.
This year’s competition saw judges wowed by over 4,000 entries from 64 countries.
“It's an enormous honour for our team to receive this important award and we are grateful for all the support, friendship and encouragement we have received along our journey” say the winning astrophotographers.
“It encourages us to continue to pursue our passion for astrophotography and, of course, research with dedication.”
Meanwhile the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year award in 2023 went to Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang, a pair of 14-year-old photographers from China who captured the Running Chicken Nebula.
Other winning images in Astrophotography Photographer of the Year 15 include Brushtroke, which is a view of the aurora captured from Lapland, Finland, and Mars-Set, which shows the 8 December 2022 lunar occultation of Mars, captured by Ethan Chappel from Texas, USA.
Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau won the ‘Our Sun’ category for A Sun Question, which shows a filament on the Sun in the shape of a question mark.
In the People & Space category, Vikas Chander topped the list with a view of the ship Zeila stranded off the Skeleton Coast off Namibia.
A wonderful view of Venus captured by Tom Williams took the Planets, Comets & Asteroids category, while ethereal ‘cosmic fireworks’ are the subject of the Skyscapes category winner, captured by Angel An.
Dr Ed Bloomer, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich says: “Once again, entrants to the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition have conspired to make things difficult for the judges, with a flood of high-quality images covering an amazing range of targets.
“The highlight of this year is perhaps a number of genuine discoveries being imaged, but we've had wonderful efforts in every category and I'm particularly pleased to see the continued strength of our young entrants and those eligible for The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer. It has led to some intense debate amongst the judges as we try to choose the very best of the best, but we don’t mind!”
You can see all the winning images in our gallery below, and can view all of the top entries from this year’s competition in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in London, opening 16 September 2023.
The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is run by Royal Observatory Greenwich, supported by Liberty Specialty Markets in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
