UK Astronomy Photographer Of The Year 2016 Shortlist

Gorgeous galaxies and stunning stars make up this selection of pictures from the shortlisted entries for this year’s Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year award. The winners will be announced on 15 September, and an exhibition of the winning images will be will be displayed in a free exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Centre from 17 September.

“Flash Point”. Brad Goldpaint (USA) The Perseid Meteor Shower shoots across the sky in the early hours of 13 August, 2015, appearing to cascade from Mount Shasta in California, USA. The composite image features roughly 65 meteors captured by the photographer between 12:30am and 4:30am. (Photo by Brad Goldpaint/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“M8: Lagoon Nebula”. Ivan Eder (Hungary) New stars are formed in the undulating clouds of M8, also commonly referred to as the Lagoon Nebula, situated around 5,000 light years from our planet. (Photo by Ivan Eder/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Northern Lights over Jokulsarlon, Iceland”. Giles Rocholl (UK) A couple takes in the awe-inspiring sight of the Northern Lights streaking across the night sky over the lagoon at Jokulsarlon, Iceland on Valentine’s night of 2016. (Photo by Giles Rocholl/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“A Fork, a Spoon and a Moon”. Andrew Caldwell ( New Zealand) A Royal Spoonbill sits atop of a branch basking in the glow of the nearly full moon in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. (Photo by Andrew Caldwell/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Huge Filaprom”. Gabriel Octavian Corban (Romania) A tremendous filaprom extends from the surface of our star, the Sun. Filaproms are large, gaseous features that can be partially seem over the sun’s disk as a filament, and they are known to reach lengths equal to 150 Earths aligned. (Photo by Gabriel Octavian Corban/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Frozen Giant Nicholas Roemmelt”. The celestial curve of the Milky Way joins with the light of a stargazer’s headlamp to form a monumental arch over the Cimon della Pella in the heart of the Dolomites mountain range in northeastern Italy. (Photo by Nicholas Roemmelt/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Pickering’s Triangle”. The luminous tangle of filaments of Pickering’s Triangle intertwines through the night sky. Located in the Veil Nebula, it is one of the main visual elements of a supernova remnant, whose source exploded around 8,000 years ago. (Photo by Bob Franke/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Just Missed the Bullseye”. The International Space Station (ISS) appears to pierce a path across the radiant, concentric star trails seemingly spinning over the silhouettes of the trees in Harrogate, South Australia. (Photo by Scott Carnie-Bronca/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Parallel Mountains”. The shadow of Manua Kea, the highest peak in the state of Hawaii, is projected by the rising sun over the volcano, Hualalai, whilst the full moon soars above them, higher again. (Photo by Sean Goebel/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“M82: Starburst Galaxy with a Superwind”. About 12 million light years away from our planet, lies the starburst galaxy M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy. In a show of radiant red, the superwind bursts out from the galaxy, believed to be the closest place to our planet in which the conditions are similar to that of the early universe, where a plethora of stars are forming. (Photo by Leonardo Orazi/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Between the Rocks”. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, stretches across the night sky between two of the imposing rocks at Pfeiffer State Beach, near Big Sur, California. (Photo by Rick Whitacre/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Seven Magic Points”. The rusty red swirls of the circular, iron sculpture Seven Magic Points in Brattebergan, Norway mirror the rippling aurora above. (Photo by Rune Engebø/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“ISS under Venus and the Moon”. Taken from atop the Semnoz Mountain, the International Space Station arcs over the city of Annecy, France, as Venus and the Moon loom overhead. (Photo by Philippe Jacquot/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Painted Hills”. With very little light pollution, the glimmering stars of the Milky Way bathe the colourful layers of the Painted Hills of Oregon in a natural glow. (Photo by Nicholas Roemmelt/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“The Diamond Ring”. The dramatic moment that our star, the sun, appears to be cloaked in darkness by the moon during the Total Solar Eclipse of 9th March 2016 in Indonesia. The sun peers out from behind the moon and resembles the shape of a diamond ring, caused by the rugged edge of the moon allowing some beads of sunlight to shine through in certain places. (Photo by Melanie Thorne/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Wall of Plasma”. A searing solar prominence extends outwards from the surface of the sun. The “wall of plasma” is the height of three times the Earth’s diameter. (Photo by Eric Toops/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Antarctic Space Station”. A view of the Halley 6 Research Station situated on the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica, which is believed to be the closest thing you can get to living in space without leaving Earth. This makes it the perfect place for the European Space Agency to use for research. As the sun’s light dissipates into the horizon, the Aurora Borealis can be seen swirling overhead. (Photo by Richard Inman/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“The Disconnection Event”. Comet Lovejoy soars through the night sky in a green haze with an ion tail in its wake. The image shows Lovejoy appearing to lose its tail on 21 January 2015. (Photo by Michael Jäeger/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Above the World”. Taken from Sefton Bivouac, the oldest hut in Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand, star trails spiral over the majestic mountains of the park and the seemingly peaceful village below. (Photo by Lee Cook/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Venus Rising”. During the seldom-seen alignment of the five planets in February 2016, Venus, Mercury and the Milky Way rose an hour before sunrise, and appear to be fleeing its early glow, overlooking Turrimeta Beach, Australia. (Photo by Ivan Slade/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)

“Crystal Brilliance”. A mesmerising lunar halo forms around our natural satellite, the moon, in the night sky above Norway. The halo, also known as a moon ring or winter halo, is an optical phenomenon created when moonlight is refracted in numerous ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. (Photo by Tommy Richardsen/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)