Tianhong Li from China has won The Sir Patrick Moore prize for Best Newcomer in the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards.
Their photo, Galaxy Curtain Call Performance, shows the silver core of the Milky Way just before it fell below the horizon in Ming’antu, China.
It was put together using 20 photos taken on Li’s NIKON D810A camera.
Chris Bramley; Editor of BBC Sky at Night Magazine, said this of the photo: “The dishes of the radioheliograph at Ming’Antu in Inner Mongolia are designed to do radio astronomy on the Sun.
“But here, with the Sun below the horizon and the Milky Way rising majestically up into the night sky, they are at rest and appear to be staring up in wonder at the majestic view.”
He wasn’t the only Chinese person to do well in the awards, Chuanjin Su was a runner-up in the Skyscapes category for their photo, Eclipsed Moon Trail.
The photo was taken in Zhangjiakou in Hebei province and shows the total lunar eclipse.
Melanie Vandenbrouck; Curator of Art (post-1800) at Royal Museums Greenwich, said: “This picture is teeming with cosmic energy. As a star trail, it reveals Earth’s rotation and place in the universe. And at its core, it exuberantly exposes the celestial mechanics of a lunar eclipse.”
Other photos to win in the awards are stunning pieces of art that will soothe your soul and make you fall completely in love with space.
An American photographer, Brad Goldpaint, won the grand prize of Astronomy Photographer of the Year for his photo taken in Utah showing a lone person stood on rocks photographing the sky. Written down, it doesn’t sound like anything special but seeing it is a whole other thing.
Competition judge Will Gater said, “For me this superb image is emblematic of everything it means to be an astrophotographer; the balance between light and dark, the contrasting textures and tones of land and sky and the photographer alone under a starry canopy of breathtaking scale and beauty.”
You can view all of the photos on the Royal Greenwich Observatory website.