The Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is the biggest astrophotography contest in the world, welcoming images of the space captured by astrophotographers from around the globe.
Galaxies, nebulae, aurorae, nightscapes, stars, moons and planets; virtually every celestial phenomenon is included in the entry categories for this annual competition, organised by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in partnership with BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
Judges for the 2017 competition included Rebecca Roth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, along with photographer Ed Robinson, ESO’s Oana Sandu, The Sky at Night’s Pete Lawrence and Chris Lintott, comedian Jon Culshaw and BBC Sky at Night Magazine editor Chris Bramley.
The Rho Ophiuchi Clouds, by Artem Mironov (Russia)
Hakos Farm, Windhoek, Namibia, 6 August 2016
Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR camera, Sky-Watcher 200P reflector, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro SynScan mount.
Ghost World, by Mikkel Beiter (Denmark),
Stokksnes, Iceland, 5 October 2016
Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark III DLSR camera, 24mm lens.
M63: Star Streams and the Sunflower Galaxy, by Oleg Bryzgalov (Ukraine)
Rozhen Observatory, Smolyan Province, Bulgaria, 6 April 2016
Equipment: QSI 583wsg CCD camera, 10-inch homemade reflector, White Swan 180 mount.
Blue Tycho, by László Francsics (Hungary)
Budapest, Hungary, 12 December 2016
Equipment: ZWO ASI290MM camera, Sony Alpha SLT-A99 DSLR camera,10-inch reflector, Sky-Watcher EQ6 Go-To mount.
Mercury Rising, by Alexandra Hart (UK)
Preston, Lancashire, UK, 9 May 2016
Equipment: Point Grey Grasshopper3 CCD camera, TEC 140 refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ6 Go-To mount.
Wanderer in Patagonia, by Yuri Zvezdny (Russia)
El Chaltén, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, 27 September 2016
Equipment: Sony A7S camera, iOptron Sky-Tracker mount, 18mm lens.
An image showing the phases of Venus, captured by Roger Hutchinson, London, UK, 25 March 2017. This image won the Planets, Comets & Asteroids category of the 2017 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.
Equipment: ZWO ASI174MM camera, Celestron C11 EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain, Celestron CGE Pro mount.
Passage to the Milky Way
Haitong Yu (China)
Xinglong, Hebei Province, China, 9 April 2016
Equipment: Sony a7s ILCE-7s camera, 85mm lens.
Saturn
Olivia Williamson (UK – aged 13)
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 27 May 2016
Equipment: ZWO ASI224MC CMOS camera, Celestron C11 EdgeHD Schmidt-Cassegrain, Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 Go-To mount.
The Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)
Jason Green (Gibraltar)
Frenegal de la Sierra, Badajoz, Spain, 10 January 2017
Equipment: QSI 660wsg-8 mono CCD camera, William Optics FLT 132 triplet apo refractor, Celestron CGE Pro mount.
Encounter of Comet and Planetary Nebula
Gerald Rhemann (Austria)
Tivoli Farm, Khomas, Namibia, 5 June 2016
Equipment: FLI Microline ML 16200 CCD camera, ASA 12-inch Astrograph Newtonian reflector.
Iain Todd is BBC Sky at Night Magazine's Content Editor. He fell in love with the night sky when he caught his first glimpse of Orion, aged 10.
The Rho Ophiuchi Clouds, by Artem Mironov (Russia)
Hakos Farm, Windhoek, Namibia, 6 August 2016
Equipment: Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR camera, Sky-Watcher 200P reflector, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro SynScan mount.
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