19.01.10
Call From Above: Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010
The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition today begins its annual global search for the best and most spectacular vision of the cosmos, whether they are striking images of distant nebulae or pictures of the night sky.
Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010 competition is now open and entries must be submitted by midday on 16 July 2010. The competition, which was first launched in 2009, attracted 540 entries from 25 countries.
Dr Marek Kukula, Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich said: ‘We were blown away by the quality of the entries in 2009. This year we would like to capitalise on this enthusiasm and talent and hopefully we’ll see more entries, especially for the Young Photographer category.’
The competition has teamed up with Sky at Night Magazine and photo-sharing website Flickr. Photographers can enter online by visiting www.nmm.ac.uk/astrophoto and entrants may submit five images to the competition. The winning entries will be showcased in an exhibition at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich from 10 September 2010 to 9 January 2011.
Last year’s overall winner was British photographer Martin Pugh for his picture of a Horsehead Nebula which was captured from his garden shed in Canberra, Australia. Competition judge and Sky at Night Magazine reporter, Pete Lawrence said ‘This is an iconic image, beautifully framed and executed. The pinkish glow of the background nebula is superbly rendered, but what really grabs you is the delicate wispy detail around the horse’s nose and mane – just superb!’
Other winning photographs from the 2009 competition included Ted Dobosz’s image of star trails taken while camping in the Blue Mountains near Sydney. The picture captures a dark starry night where the glow from the galactic bulge of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds stretches across the night sky. As the Earth spins during the 30-minute exposure of the photograph the stars make trails around the southern celestial pole.
Michael O’Connell received first prize in the Our Solar System category for his photograph of the Moon appearing over the eastern horizon. The picture was taken using a simple digital SLR camera with a telescope from his back garden in Ireland.
Teenager Paul Smith was awarded the Young Astronomer Photographer of the Year title for his photograph showing the occultation of Venus just as the planet begins to reappear from behind the Moon.
Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010 has four categories:
Earth and Space – Photographs that include landscape, people and other earth-related things. Alongside an astronomical subject ranging from the stars, the Moon or near-Earth phenomena such as the aurora.
Our Solar System – Imagery which captures the Sun and its family of planets, moons, asteroids and comets.
Deep Space – pictures that capture anything beyond the Solar System, including stars, nebulae and galaxies.
Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year – pictures taken by budding astronomers under the age of 16 years old.
There are also two new special prizes: People and Space will recognise the best photo featuring people in the shot and Best Newcomer will be awarded to the most creative amateur astrophotographer.
Competition judge and Sky at Night Magazine Editor, Graham Southorn said ‘Last year we enjoyed some spectacular images by the world’s best astrophotographers. In 2010 I’m hoping to see more sharply-focused star clusters and galaxies, as well as close-ups of the Moon’s surface and planets.
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