The 16th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, a celebration of the cosmos captured through lenses, has revealed its shortlist, featuring over 3,500 stunning images from across the globe.
One captivating entry, "Arctic Dragon," by Carina Letelier Baeza, captures a mesmerizing aurora borealis, shaped like a soaring dragon. The image, taken at the Arctic Henge in Iceland, showcases the breathtaking beauty of a geomagnetic storm, a phenomenon caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun. The storm's energy interacts with Earth's magnetic field, causing the vibrant dancing lights of the aurora.
Another shortlisted image, "The Scream of a Dying Star," by Yann Sainty, takes a closer look at the aftermath of a supernova, a powerful stellar explosion. The image, captured in the Atlas mountains of Morocco, focuses on the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant that occurred around 10,000 years ago. Sainty's long exposure technique reveals rarely seen details of the glowing remnant, creating an ethereal, almost haunting scene, reminiscent of Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream."
The beauty of the Sun, often hidden by its brilliant surface, is showcased in "The Palette of the Himalayas" by Geshuang Chen. Taken near the Tibetan city of Shigatse, the image captures the Sun's corona, its outermost atmospheric layer, through the diffraction of sunlight by thin clouds. The result is a vibrant spectrum of colors spread across the snowy Himalayan peaks, a testament to the Sun's awe-inspiring power.
These are just a few of the shortlisted entries that will compete for the coveted title of Astronomy Photographer of the Year. The competition, hosted by the Royal Observatory in London, aims to highlight the captivating beauty of the universe through the eyes of passionate photographers. The winners will be announced on September 12th, and the winning images will be showcased in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in London, starting on September 14th.
