Every class the Royal Observatory’sAstronomy lensman of the Yearcompetition pushes the envelope on what it mean to capture the beauty of the vault of heaven . The competition , now in its 13th year , is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine . In 2021 , it received over 4,500 entry from people locate in 75 area across the globe .
There are nine class cut across skyscapes , aurorae , our Sun , the Moon , objects in the solar organisation , stars and nebulae , galaxies , and a particular one for untried citizenry . Each of them will have a succeeder , a runner - up , and a highly commended piece . There are also two special prize : the Manju Mehrotra Family Trust Prize for Best Newcomer and the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation , which is for the best - treat icon from open - source data from established telescopes . Among these achiever , the judges will take an overall succeeder who will take home a £ 10,000 prize .
The winner will be announced at a live ceremonial on September 16 that will be streamed online . Until then , here are some of the beautiful images that have been shortlisted this year .
Glory of Damavand and Milky Way © Masoud Ghadiri ( Iran )
ikon Credit : © Masoud Ghadiri ( Iran )
The lensman describes Mount Damavand as one of the most beautiful raw wonders of Iran and looking at this picture we can see why . Ghadiri hiked for seven hour and climb over 1,000 metre ( 0.6 miles ) to gain this place and rupture this beautiful paradigm .
Star Fall © Wang Zheng ( China )
Image Credit : © Wang Zheng ( China )
In the Tengger Desert , locate in Minqin County , there ’s a queer sculpture that is supposed to represent raindrops fall in this arid land . Thanks to Zheng ’s photograph this clear a new dimension as the metal column reflects the majesty of the Milky Way .
Comet Neowise over Stonehenge © James Rushforth ( UK )
Comet NEOWISE was bright in the sky last year . It ’s a comet coming nigh to the Sun every 6,800 years so the last prison term it was seeable , the prehistoric repository of Stonehenge in the UK had not been built yet .
mahimahi Head Nebula © Yovin Yahathugoda ( Sri Lanka )
Image Credit : © Yovin Yahathugoda ( Sri Lanka )
This beautiful nebula is created and shaped in this cosmic bubble by the star flop in the middle of it . Yahathugoda fight for over a calendar month to get the correct conditions to get this trope , the outcome of 1.5 hr of full exposure time over three night .
A Daytime Transit © Andrew McCarthy ( USA )
picture Credit : © Andrew McCarthy ( USA )
It ’s not just about the nighttime when it comes to astrophotography . McCarthy snaps a beautiful image of the decline crescent Sun Myung Moon during the day as the International Space Station passes in front of it .
Iceland Vortex © Larryn Rae ( New Zealand )
Image Credit : © Larryn Rae ( New Zealand )
The selfie game is firm . Photographer Larryn Rae captures himself on the Icelandic shabu as it muse the northern lights in this beautiful 250 degrees panorama .
NGC 3981 © Bernard Miller ( USA )
NGC 3981 is lose its spiral arms in the fundamental interaction with another galaxy , make a truly peculiar look for this beautiful cosmic body .
Waterfall © Anna Dobrovolskaya - Mints ( Israel )
Image Credit : © Anna Dobrovolskaya - Mints ( Israel )
The pic was supposed to just feature the star trails . Dobrovolskaya - Mints set to record them as she was hold back for an aurora to begin but also captured the origin of the northern luminousness , creating this beautiful makeup .
NGC 6723 , NGC 6726 , NGC 6727 and NGC 6729 - Dark Molecular Cloud in Corona Australis © Steven Mohr ( Australia )
paradigm Credit : © Steven Mohr ( Australia )
Sometimes more is good , so check out this grand image of a crowded bit of the sky featuring a globular cluster ( NGC 6723 ) and the three nebulae that make up the Dark Molecular Cloud .
Aurora in Murmansk © Vitaliy Novikov ( Russia )
effigy Credit : © Vitaliy Novikov ( Russia )
capture the northerly light in the midsection of a city is far from easy , but several attempts over many hours devote off for Novikov , who captured this beautiful snapshot .
Bicolour Veil Nebula © Péter Feltóti ( Hungary )
Image Credit : © Péter Feltóti ( Hungary )
The photographer took images of the Veil nebula with two filter , showing the H and oxygen emission of the gas pedal leave over by an ancient supernova .
macula Looking out into Space © Siu Fone Tang ( USA )
Image citation : © Siu Fone Tang ( USA )
This enhanced ikon is a combination of multiple frame looking at the sun in a particular wavelength . invert in color , the image gives bump to the sunspot , usually a dark feature film on the Sun and here seen as a bright one .
The Cave © Markus van Hauten ( Germany )
figure of speech Credit : © Markus van Hauten ( Germany )
The cave and sky ( each taken with different exposures ) are unite into the eerie image of this glacial social organization in Iceland .
Château de Chambord © Benjamin Barakat ( UK )
Image credit entry : © Benjamin Barakat ( UK )
This shot of the château in Chambord , in Centre - Val de Loire , France was a tricky one for a peculiar reasonableness . Its lighting system is only off for one minute every 15 , so the photographer really had to bring fast in those precious minutes to grab the ripe shots for this beautiful make-up .
