ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year The Royal Observatory Greenwich has announced the winners of its ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest. This annual showcase highlights some of the world's best space photography, with winners, runners-up, and highly commended images selected across ten categories.
This year's overall winning image, Andromeda Core, was captured by Chinese photographers Weitang Liang, Qi Yan, and Chuhong Yu. The winning photograph "focused on revealing the intricate structure of the galaxy's central region and its surrounding stellar population. " Additionally, contest organizers recognized NASA astronaut Don Pettit for a time-exposure image he captured from the International Space Station using a homemade sidereal star tracker.
We share the winning images from each of the contest's ten categories on the following pages. To see the complete collection of awarded images, visit the competition's website.
Winner: Galaxies
The Andromeda Core by Weitang Liang, Qi Yang, Chuhong Yu (China)
Overall Competition Winner
Winner: Galaxies
This image showcases the core of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) in exceptional detail, captured using a long focal-length telescope. Taking advantage of the excellent seeing conditions at Nerpio, the photographers focused on revealing the intricate structure of the galaxy’s central region and its surrounding stellar population.
Taken with a PlaneWave Instruments CDK20 telescope, Baader LRGB and Chroma H-alpha filters, PlaneWave Instruments L500 mount, Moravian Instruments C3-61000 Pro camera, 3,450 mm focal length, 500 mm F6. 8, multiple 900-second R, G and B exposures, multiple 1,800-second H-alpha exposures, 38 hours total exposure
Location: AstroCamp Observatory, Nerpio, Spain, 31 July, 2, 4–6, 14, 17, 20, 29, 31 August and 1 September 2024
The Andromeda Core © Weitang Liang, Qi Yang, Chuhong Yu
Winner: Planets, Comets & Asteroids
Comet 12P/Pons
Winner: Planets, Comets & Asteroids
Comet 12P/Pons
Taken with a Celestron C14Edge HD SCT telescope with HyperStar V4 lens, 10Micron GM 2000 HPS mount, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, 712 mm F2, 25 x 30-second exposures
Location: June Lake, California, USA, 31 March 2024
Comet 12P/Pons
Winner: Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer
Encounter Across Light Years by Yurui Gong, Xizhen Ruan (China)
Winner: Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer
This photograph captures a serendipitous moment when a brilliant fireball from the Perseid meteor shower appears to graze M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. This photograph captures a serendipitous moment when a brilliant fireball from the Perseid meteor shower appears to graze M31, the Andromeda Galaxy.
Originally, the photographers had only planned to capture a close-up of the M31 galaxy. Retrieving the camera the next morning, they discovered this wonderful surprise.
Taken with a Nikon Z 30 camera, 56 mm F1. 7, ISO 800, multiple 30-second exposures
Location: Zhucheng City, Shandong, China, 12 August 2024
Encounter Across Light Years © Yurui Gong, Xizhen Ruan
Winner: Our Moon
The Trace of Refraction by Marcella Giulia Pace (Italy)
Winner: Our Moon
This image captures the phenomenon of atmospheric refraction, where moonlight passes through dense layers of Earth’s atmosphere near the horizon, bending in a manner similar to light rays through a prism. Additionally, the redness of the Moon can be explained by a process known as Rayleigh scattering [smaller particles in the atmosphere scatter shorter wavelengths of light, resulting in longer wavelengths, namely red, being more predominant].
Taken with a Nikon D7100 camera, 600 mm F6. 3, ISO 100, 1-second exposure
Location: Contrada Sant’Ippolito, Modica, Sicily, Italy, 7 April 2024
The Trace of Refraction © Marcella Giulia Pace
Winner: Aurora
Crown of Light © Kavan Chay (New Zealand)
Winner: Aurora
The image was taken during the G5 storm, the most extreme level of geomagnetic storm, in May. The reds were a level of intensity the photographer had never experienced.
Taken with a Nikon Z 7 astro-modified camera, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro 2i mount, Nikkor Z 14-24 mm F2. 8S, 16 mm, Sky: F2. 8, ISO 800, 5-second exposure; Foreground: F5. 6, ISO 3,200, 30-second exposure
Location: Tumbledown Bay, Little River, Banks Peninsula Community, New Zealand, 10 May 2024
Crown of Light © Kavan Chay
Winner: Our Sun
Active Region of the Sun's Chromosphere by James Sinclair (USA)
Winner: Our Sun
The chromosphere is the most picturesque part of the Sun. Composed of hydrogen and helium plasma, it is manipulated by the intense and tangled magnetic fields of the Sun. The Sun’s chromosphere does not just change day by day; it changes second by second, which is why solar astrophotographers become obsessed with it.
Taken with a Lunt 130 mm telescope with double-stacked Etalons, Lunt Block Filter 3400 (34 mm), Sky-Watcher EQ6 R Pro mount, Player One Astronomy Apollo-M Max camera, 910 mm F28, Gain 310, 10-second exposure
Location: Cedar City, Utah, USA, 30 September 2024
Active Region of the Sun's Chromosphere © James Sinclair
Winner: People & Space
ISS Lunar Flyby by Tom Williams (UK)
Winner: People & Space
This image shows the International Space Station making a close pass of our Moon. The event was predicted to be a transit but ended up being a close flyby. However, the result is still dramatic, with the station’s solar arrays backlit by the rising Sun. Notably, the white radiators can also be seen and are illuminated by earthshine rather than direct sunlight.
Taken with a Sky-Watcher 400P GoTo Dobsonian telescope, Player Astronomy Uranus-C (IMX585) camera, 300 mm F15. 5, 1. 5-millisecond exposure
Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, 27 October 2024
ISS Lunar Flyby © Tom Williams
Winner: Skyscapes
The Ridge by Tom Rae (New Zealand)
Winner: Skyscapes
This is the largest panorama Tom Rae has ever captured, with the full resolution image containing over a billion pixels from 62 images stitched together. The photograph captures the twin glacial rivers with the Milky Way core off to the left of the image, as well as the famous Southern Cross and other pointers high in the centre sky.
Taken with a Nikon Z 6a and Z 7 cameras, iOptron SkyGuider Pro mount, Sky: Nikon Z 6a camera, 40 mm F1. 8, ISO 1,600, 49 x 30-second exposures; Foreground: Nikon Z 7 camera, 24 mm F10, ISO 125, 13 x 20-second exposures
Location: Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, Mackenzie District, New Zealand, 8 April 2024
The Ridge © Tom Rae
Winner: Stars & Nebula
M13: An Ultra-Deep Exposure of the Popular Cluster by Distant Luminosity;
Julian Zoller, Jan Beckmann, Lukas Eisert, Wolfgang Hummel (all Germany)
Winner: Stars and Nebula
M13, or the Great Hercules Cluster, is one of the most prominent and well-studied globular clusters in the northern sky. Discovered by Edmond Halley in 1714, it is located in the constellation Hercules and lies about 22,200 light years from Earth. With an apparent magnitude (a measure of brightness) of 5. 8, M13 is visible to the naked eye under dark skies and can be easily observed through binoculars or a small telescope. Our goal was to get the deepest possible image of the cluster, in which, to our surprise, even integrated flux nebula (IFN) clouds appeared.
At approximately 145 light years in diameter, M13 is one of the larger globular clusters associated with the Milky Way – a tightly packed sphere of hundreds of thousands of stars. At its core, some stars are as close as 0. 05 light years apart, about one-tenth the distance between the Sun and its nearest stellar neighbour. Although M13 is one of the most photographed astronomical objects, there are only a few deep images that show the numerous small background galaxies in the field.
Taken with a TS-Optics 200 mm/8 ONTC F4 Newtonian telescope, iOptron CEM70G mount, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, 800 mm F4, 300-second exposures, 29. 25 hours total exposure
Location: Pena Trevinca, Veiga, Gij
M13: An Ultra-Deep Exposure of the Popular Cluster © Distant Luminosity
Winner: ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Orion, the Horsehead and the Flame in H-alpha by Daniele Borsari (Italy)
Winner: ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year
This image was captured with an H-alpha filter to make a monochrome image highlighting the emission nebula. This image was captured with an H-alpha filter to make a monochrome image highlighting the emission nebula.
On the lower left lies the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33. This dense dark cloud of gases hides the light coming from the emission nebula IC 434 and creates the apparent shape of a horse’s head.
A little to the left, we find the Flame Nebula, NGC 2024. The star responsible for the illumination of this nebula, IRS2, is located behind dust and gases and is therefore not visible in the optical spectrum.
And finally, in the upper-right of the image, is M42, famously known as the Orion Nebula. This nebula is a huge cloud of dust and gas where a lot of new stars are born. The energy released by the four central stars (the Trapezium Cluster) shapes the nebula, ionising the gas components.
Taken with a Player One Astronomy Ares-M Pro camera, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro mount, Samyang 135 mm F2. 0 lens, 135 mm F2. 8, 45 x 60-second exposures and 262 x 300-second exposures, 22 hours and 35 minutes total exposure
Location: Leffe, Bergamo, Italy, 11, 14, 15 January, 6 February 2025
Orion, the Horsehead and the Flame in H-alpha © Daniele Borsari
Special feature
Earth From Orbit by Don Pettit (USA)
Special feature
While the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition showcases the best of Earth-bound astrophotography, this image demonstrates the immense potential of space-based imagery, revealing the cosmos in ways that would be impossible from the ground.
Captured between October 2024 and March 2025, during ISS Expedition 72
This is one of a number of star-field time exposures captured from the International Space Station (ISS) using a homemade sidereal star tracker. Rotating once every 90 minutes, the tracker counteracts the attitude motion of the orbiting ISS, allowing distant stars to be photographed as fixed pinpoints while the Earth continues to rotate below, previously an impossibility in orbital photography.
Taken with a Nikon Z9 camera, Sigma 14 mm F1. 4 lens, F1. 4, ISO 6400, with homemade orbital sidereal drive to compensate for orbital pitch rate (4 degrees/min), 15-second exposure.
Earth From Orbit © Don Pettit
. dpreview.com2025-9-12 21:30
