Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2023 winners

This year’s winners feature entrants from around the world - from Australia to Norway, the UK to China. Among the stunning images of stars, the Sun and aurorae, photographers have made astonishing new discoveries.

The overall winners with their entry of ‘Andromeda, Unexpected’ have captured a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy which will now be investigated by international scientists. Another of the judges’ favourites, ‘New Class of Galactic Nebulae Around the Star YY Hya’ that won the Stars and Nebulae category, captures a previously unknown galactic nebula containing a pair of stars surrounded by a common envelope, adding another exciting discovery to the winning images.

A Sun Question by Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau. This image was the winner in the Our Sun category. It features a huge filament in the shape of a question mark on the Sun. Solar filaments are arcs of plasma in the Sun’s atmosphere given shape by magnetic fields. Location: Argentina.

Circle of Light by Andreas Ettl. This image won runner-up in the Aurorae category. A stunning photograph of a vivid aurora over Skagsanden beach in the Lofoten Islands, Norway. The aurora borealis are visible for 8 months of the year on Lofoten due to its location in the Arctic Circle.

New Class of Galactic Nebulae Around the Star YY Hya by Marcel Drechsler. This image was the winner in the Stars and Nebulae category. With this photo, a team of amateur astronomers made an important contribution to the study of binary star systems: on old images of sky surveys, they discovered a previously unknown galactic nebula. Location: Chile

Close Encounters of The Haslingden Kind by Katie McGuinness. This image won highly commended in the People and Space category. Haslingden’s Halo is a sculpture illuminated by hundreds of LEDs located in northern England. More than 150 images taken over an hour were combined to show the apparent rotation of stars around Polaris.

Grand Cosmic Fireworks by Angel An. This image was the winner in the Skyscapes category. Sprites are an extremely rare phenomenon of atmospheric luminescence that shoot into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, appearing like fireworks. The photographer captured this from the highest ridge of the Himalaya mountains.

Blue Spirit Drifting in the Clouds by Haocheng Li and Runwei Xu. This image won runner-up in the Young category. Pleiades, an open star cluster, is also known as the Seven Sisters because many people can see seven stars, however there are actually over 1,000. Location: China.

The Running Chicken Nebula by Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang. This image was the winner of the Young category. The Running Chicken Nebula is located in the constellation of Centaurus, 6,000 light years away from the Earth. Location: Chile.

Andromeda, Unexpected by Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty. This image was the overall winner as well as winner in the Galaxies category. A team of amateur astronomers discovered a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy, which is now being investigated by scientists. It’s thought that it could be the largest such structure in the nearby environment in the Universe. Location: France.

Sundown on the Terminator by Tom Williams. This image was runner-up in the Our Moon category. The Plato Crater is an almost perfectly circular crater that measures 109 km in diameter. This photograph was taken during a lunar sunset in the last quarter, when half of the Moon’s face is visible from Earth. Location: UK.

The Dark Wolf - Fenrir by James Baguley. This image was highly commended in the Stars and Nebulae category. This photo shows a dark, thick molecular cloud in the form of a wolf, known as the Wolf Nebula. The photographer chose a starless image to emphasise the red background of hydrogen gas. Location: Australia.

The Great Solar Flare by Mehmet Ergun. This image won highly commended in the Our Sun category. The Sun here is photographed moving towards its maximum cycle and features a large solar flare around 700,000km long. Location: Germany.

Noctilucent Night, Peter Hoszang. This image won highly commended in the Skyscapes category. Noctilucent clouds are a rare phenomenon that occur high up in the atmosphere and appear to glow with a silvery hue at night when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon. Location: Hungary.

Roses Blooming in the Dark: NGC 2337 by Yanhao Mo. This photo won highly commended in the Young category. The Rosette Nebula is a large nebula and has a diameter of around 130 light years and is situated around 5,000 light years away from Earth. Location: China

Jupiter Close to Opposition by Marco Lorenzi. This image won runner-up in the Planets, Comets and Asteroids category. The Great Red Spot and many details of Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere, primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gas, are clearly visible, including several smaller storms. Location: Singapore

Neighbours by Paul Montague. This image won highly commended in the Galaxies category. This deep-space photograph shows galaxies NGC 5078 and IC879, to the left, and NGC 5101 on the right on a background of other stars. Location: Australia.

Dark Star by Peter Ward. This image won runner-up in the Our Sun category. This photograph of the Sun shows it turned ‘inside-out’ after the photographer inverted the image. It highlights the smaller prominences that occur on the edge of the Sun. Location: Australia

Blinded by the Light by Aaron Wilhelm. This image was the winner of The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer. The Sh2-132 complex lies near the border of the Cepheus and Lacerta constellations and contains multiple deep sky structures. Location: USA.

Black Echo by John White. This image was the winner of the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation. Taking audio source material from NASA, the photographer visually captured the sound of the black hole at the centre of the Perseus Galaxy by using water in a petri dish.

Fire on the Horizon by Chester Hall-Fernandez. This image was highly commended in the Aurorae category. New Zealand regularly has aurora but due to its distance from the magnetic pole they are often not particularly vibrant for observers, however increased solar activity permitted this beautiful show.

The Eyes Galaxies by Weitang Liang. This image was the runner-up in the Galaxies category. The Eyes Galaxies are interacting galaxies in the Virgo Cluster that are so small they require a large telescope to reveal their many components. Location: Chile

Zeila by Vikas Chander. This image was the winner in the People and Space category. The northern tip of Namibia’s Atlantic coast is one of the most treacherous coastlines in the world and has gained the name the Skeleton Coast. The ship in this photo, Zeila, was stranded on 25 August 2008 and is still in a well-preserved state.

LDN 1448 et al. by Anthony Quintile. This image was the runner-up in the Stars and Nebulae category. LDN 1448 is a subject of scientific study due to its role in the process of star formation. Capturing these detailed photos allows astrophotographers to contribute to scientific research. Location: USA.

A Visit to Tycho by Andrew McCarthy. This image was the runner-up in the People and Space category. In this photo, the International Space Station is aligned with the Tycho Crater. While actually 1,000 times closer to Earth than the Moon, this perspective makes it seem like the ISS is in fact orbiting our natural satellite.