Every year, Greenwich’s Royal Observatory considers photos of the cosmos for its Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. The 16th rendition of the contest does not disappoint. From distant spinning galaxies to brilliant auroras on our very own planet, the entrants in this year’s competition show off everything the heavens have to offer.
If you’re in the London area, you can see the shortlisted photos in person at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. But if you’re not, you can check out the shortlisted finalists below.
“A Cosmic Firework the Geminid Meteor Shower”
The starbursts of color are the Geminid meteor shower as seen from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands. The Milky Way also appears in the background.
“A Milky Way Mimic”
The galaxy NGC 6744 sits 30 million light-years from Earth, and resembles how our own galaxy would look from such a distance.
“A Night with the Valkyries”
A beautiful combination of pinks, yellows, and greens illuminate the sky over Iceland’s Eystrahorn Mountain during a geomagnetic storm in December 2024.
“A Whale Sailing the Sun”
This strikingly detailed image reveals the Sun’s surface. Towards the top left quarter of the Sun, a plasma filament that looks a bit like a whale “swims” across the star’s surface.
“Abandoned House”
An abandoned home in Namibia’s Namib Desert, with the Milky Way hanging above it, presents a stunning contrast. The shot reminds me a bit of the landscapes in Courage the Cowardly Dog—anyone else?
“Ancestral Rocks”
These rock formations are located in a caldera in the Canary Islands’ Teide National Park. Behind the formations is the arc of the Milky Way.
“Arctic Dragon”
Per the title, the aurora above Iceland’s Arctic Henge resembles a bright green dragon.
“Auroral Touch the Milky Way’s Close Encounter”
The deep reds of the Aurora Australis beneath the arc of the Milky Way, as seen from New Zealand’s Castle Hill.
“Cosmos in Reflection”
This trippy shot captures the reflection of light from various sources across the night sky, reflected in some of the 12,000 mirrors at a power station in China.
“Earth and Milky Way Galaxy Show”
A volcanic crater in Japan, the Milky Way above it.
“GUM 12 the Gum Nebula (Vela Supernova Remnant)”
This filamentous blue structure is a part of the Vela supernova, which exploded roughly 11,000 years ago.
“Hunter’s Moon and the ISS”
October’s full moon is also called a Hunter’s Moon. In the foreground of the natural satellite is the International Space Station (bottom right).
“M81, a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy”
A galaxy 11.75 million light-years away, sitting in the constellation Ursa Major.
“M100 (The Blowdryer Galaxy) and Ceres”
The dwarf planet Ceres is seen here as four bright spots, transiting in front of the Blowdryer Galaxy (formally M100).
“The Scream of a Dying Star”
This eerie shot of a supernova afterglow gets its name from Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”; indeed, the stellar remnants resemble a howling person.
“Misty Mountains”
The Pelican Nebula’s dust and gas structures, seen through a telescope in Hungary.
“Martian Dementors”
The Martian landscape as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image abstracts the landscape to the point that the terrain looks like a chunk of some menacing creature.
“Observations at Night”
A spellbinding shot of the Isaac Newton Telescope in the Canary Islands, with the Cygnus region of the Milky Way visible at top right.
“Run to Carina”
This captivating photo from Namibia features a stone sculpture of a person in mid-stride.The Carina Nebula—which the Webb Space Telescope imaged as one of its first science targets—is visible top right.
“Saturn with Six Moons”
Behold Saturn, the ringed planet, accompanied by six of its moons. To the left, you can spot Rhea, Enceladus, and Mimas as tiny specks. Dione is visible at the bottom right, Titan at the top right, and Tethys is just about to disappear behind Saturn itself.
“Serpentine”
These are the remains of a jetty on Norfolk’s Snettisham Beach, under a long exposure of the stars in the night sky.
“Solar Pulsation”
A sunspot is shown here erupting on the surface of the Sun. Sunspots are darker regions on the Sun’s surface associated with the star’s magnetic field.
“The Blue Details of M45 The Pleiades”
The luminous blue lights of the Pleiades, as seen from Nerpio, Spain.
“The Dance of Jupiter’s Moons”
Jupiter with its moons Io and Ganymede. Io is a compelling research target for scientists, given its desolate and volcano-covered landscape.
“The Fire-Spitting Dragon”
Here’s another aurora reminiscent of a mythical flying serpent. This photo is in black and white, an interesting approach to one of the most famously vibrant natural phenomena on Earth.
“The Galaxy Devourer”
This ominous shot portends doom for a galaxy (top left), threatened by CG4, a giant cloud of gas and dust in space.
“The Inner Dust Lanes of M104 (The Sombrero Galaxy)”
This image, captured using a telescope at Chile’s El Sauce Observatory, shows the incredibly flat M104, or Sombrero Galaxy, including the dust that permeates the object.
“The International Space Station Daytime Moon Transit”
A composite image showing the transit of the ISS across the face of the Moon.
“The Palette of the Himalayas”
An iridescent rainbow of the Sun’s corona as it appears in altostratus clouds above the Himalayan mountains.
“Total Solar Eclipse”
An arguably obligatory image of a total solar eclipse. This one was captured in Australia in April 2023; the image is made of seven superimposed photos that capture different states of the eclipse.