Australian based photographer Martin Pugh has claimed the top prize in
the Royal Observatory’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition
for the second time, after originally winning the accolade back in 2009.
As well as securing the £1,500 top prize, his image takes pride of
place in the exhibition of winning photographs opening at the Royal
Observatory Greenwich on 20 September.
Pugh impressed the judges in this year’s competition with the depth and
clarity of his winning shot depicting the famous Whirlpool Galaxy (M51).
The image combines incredible detail in the galaxy’s spiral arms with
the faint tails of light that show M51’s small companion galaxy being
gradually torn apart by the gravity of its giant neighbour; a closer
look also reveals more distant galaxies beyond.
Deep Space category winner, and overall winner: M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy by Martin Pugh (Australia)
Earth and Space category highly commended: The Milky Way View from the
Piton de l'Eau, Reunion Island by Luc Perrot (Reunion Island). The Milky
Way arches over a mirror-like lake on the island of Reunion. At the
bottom of the picture Piton des Neiges, the highest peak of Reunion
Island, can be seen. The bright patch to the left of the image marks the
bulge of stars at the heart of our Galaxy. The photographer waited two
years before all the combined conditions were favourable to succeed with
this photo.
Young Astronomy Photographer category highly commended: Heavenly
Showers by Jathin Premjith (India, aged 15). This photograph from the
Young category of the competition skilfully frames the streaming,
swirling patters of the Northern Lights with treetops below and a starry
sky above. In the centre of the image, which was taken in the far
North, close to the Arctic Circle, Orion the hunter is just visible
through the bright auroral display. Taurus the bull and the bright
Pleiades star cluster are seen in the clear area to the upper right.
Young Astronomy Photographer category winner: Pleiades Cluster by Jacob
von Chorus (Canada, aged 15). Among the nearest star clusters to Earth,
the stars of the Pleiades (Messier 45) are easily seen with the naked
eye in the Northern hemisphere’s winter skies. While it is often called
the Seven Sisters, this beautiful photograph reveals many more of the
hot, young stars which comprise the cluster. The young photographer has
also captured the swirling wisps of a diaphanous gas cloud through which
the cluster is currently passing, lighting it with reflected starlight.
It was taken near dusk, with two frames and an hour of exposure.
Young Astronomy Photographer category highly commended: Origins of Life
on Earth by Thomas Sullivan (USA, aged 13). Earth and space are evenly
weighted in this wonderfully framed image of a Californian landscape
beneath the Milky Way. The young photographer has chosen a view of an
ancient Bristlecone Pine which is over 4000 years old, and whose sloping
trunk and gnarled branches provide perfect counterpoint to the edge-on
view of the starry disc and knotted structure of our galaxy.
Earth and Space category highly commended: Sky away from the Lights by
Tunç Tezel (Turkey). Dark mountain peaks frame two distinct lightscapes -
the distant glow of towns and villages, and the majestic star fields of
The Milky Way. Making the most of an August night, the photographer got
this shot after trekking out to the Uludag National Park near his
hometown of Bursa, Turkey.
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Our Solar System category highly commended: Worlds of the Solar System
by Damian Peach (UK). This portrait gallery features four of our
planetary neighbours in exquisite detail: the slender crescent Venus on
28 May; Mars on 29 February showing the famous Syrtis Major feature at
the centre and brilliant clouds over the Elysium Mons volcano on the
right; Jupiter on 1 February showing Ganymede in transit, with Europa on
the right, and its shadow cast onto the planet; Saturn close to
opposition from 21 April showing the remains of the giant storm from the
year before, as well as fine details within the ring system. The
photographer shows the relative sizes of the planets as they appear to
an observer on Earth. In reality Jupiter and Saturn would dwarf the
other planets, but they are both much further away from us.
People and Space category winner: Facing Venus-Jupiter Close
Conjunction by Laurent Laveder (France). This picture was taken on the
wet sand at low tide on the beach at Tréguennec in North West France and
shows the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. One of the astronomical
highlights of 2012, the conjunction was the period when the two bright
planets appeared conspicuously close together in the sky. Their apparent
closeness was an optical illusion – Jupiter was in fact millions of
kilometres further away than Venus. The photographer is pictured in the
lower right corner of the frame and the Pleiades and Taurus are also
visible on the upper left.
People and Space category runner-up: Lost in Yosemite [C 033706] by
Steven Christenson (USA). The photographer came across two hikers lost
in the wilderness of Yosemite late one evening in July 2011. He captured
this image of the tiny figures in a small bubble of torchlight set
within a vast, pitch black forest beneath the immense dome of the sky.
It highlights the wonder, beauty and awe of astronomy.
Our Solar System category highly commended: Venus Transit by Paul Haese
(Australia). Perhaps the biggest astronomical event of 2012 was the
transit of Venus, which took place in June. Transits occur when Venus
passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, appearing as a small
black disc passing across the face of our parent star. They occur in
pairs, eight years apart, with each pair separated by over a century.
The previous transit was in 2004 and the next will not be until December
2117. This is a spectacular view of the active Sun, streaked and
blotched with filaments, sunspots and prominences. Venus, a world almost
exactly the same size as the Earth, seems dwarfed by the scale and
power of our local star.
Our Solar System category winner: Transit of Venus 2012 in
Hydrogen-Alpha by Chris Warren (UK). Perhaps the biggest astronomical
event of 2012 was the transit of Venus, which took place in June.
Transits occur when Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun,
appearing as a small black disc passing across the face of our parent
star. The next transit will not take place for 105 years, in December
2117. This is a single unprocessed raw frame shot using a hydrogen-alpha
(Ha) filter. It was captured early on the morning of 6 June between
second and third contact, the photographer’s first and only glimpse
taken through a thin patch in the clouds at Blackheath in London. The
image captures the excitement of the 2012 transit of Venus, and the
delight of observers in the UK who managed to catch a fleeting view
despite the British weather.
Best Newcomer category winner: Elephant's Trunk with Ananas by Lóránd
Fényes (Hungary). The Elephant’s Trunk seems to uncoil from the dusty
nebula on the right of the image, its tip curled around a cavity carved
out by the radiation produced by young stars. Capturing a deep sky
object like this takes skill and painstaking attention to detail and is a
great achievement for a newcomer to astrophotography.
Robotic Scope category winner: The Sunflower Galaxy by Thomas Read (UK,
aged 12). A spiral system like the Milky Way, Messier 63 has arms which
encircle the yellowish centre of the galaxy like the petals of a
flower, earning it the nickname of the Sunflower Galaxy. This image was
captured by the young photographer using the Bradford Robotic Telescope
in Tenerife, which he controlled over the internet.
Deep Space category runner-up: Simeis 147 Supernova Remnant by Rogelio
Bernal Andreo (USA). The photographer here set out to show not only the
main subject of the image – a vast supernova remnant – but also the
objects in the wide starscape that surrounds it. Straddling the
constellations of Auriga and Taurus, Simeis 147 consists of the
expanding debris of a massive star which exploded around 40,000 years
ago. As the wreckage continues to spread out into space it collides
violently with the dust and gas between the stars, sculpting it into the
glowing shells and filaments which have earned Simeis 147 the nickname
of the ‘Spaghetti Nebula’.
Deep Space category highly commended: NGC 6960 - The Witch's Broom by
Robert Franke (USA). Part of the Veil Nebula, the ‘Witch’s Broom’ is the
glowing debris from a supernova explosion – the violent death of a
massive star. Although the supernova occurred several thousand years
ago, the gaseous debris is still expanding outwards, producing this vast
cloud-like structure. In this image narrowband filters have been used
to greatly increase detail while giving a reasonable representation of
the nebula's colour.
Our Solar System category runner-up: Mars in 2012 by Damian Peach (UK).
This sequence of photographs, taken in March 2012, uses the rotation of
Mars to build up a complete view of the planet’s surface. It shows the
gleaming north polar cap of frozen water and carbon dioxide, the red
equatorial deserts and the darker southern highlands. The photographer
has captured an amazing level of detail, including wispy clouds in the
thin Martian atmosphere.
Deep Space category highly commended: The Perseus Cluster - Abell 426
by Robert Franke (USA). Situated almost 250 million light-years away
from us, The Perseus Cluster, also known as Abell 426, contains more
than 500 catalogued galaxies. Some are spirals like the Milky Way while
others are giant, smooth elliptical systems. Together they form one of
the largest structures in the Universe. Each smudge of light in this
photograph contains millions, if not billions, of stars.
Young Astronomy Photographer category highly commended: Lunar Mountains
by Jacob Marchio (USA, aged 13). This skilled young astrophotographer
has captured a beautifully sharp and artfully framed detail of the Moon.
The terminator – which separates the daytime and night-time parts of
the Moon – is aligned with the bottom edge of the photograph. The Sun’s
light shines at a low angle onto the surface of the Moon just above this
line, showing the contrast between smooth maria (lunar ‘seas’) and
rugged crater rims to the best advantage.
Our Solar System category highly commended: Comet C2009 P1 Garradd by
Graham Relf (UK). Comet Garradd was discovered in 2009 as it approached
the inner Solar System. It became visible through binoculars in 2011 but
has never been visible to the naked eye. To bring out the greenish glow
of the comet’s halo the photographer has used a long exposure. The star
trails show how he has tracked the comet’s orbital motion to keep it in
the centre of the frame and the picture illustrates how the comet moved
relative to the stars in 38 minutes.
Young Astronomy Photographer category runner-up: Daytime Lunar Mosaic
by Laurent V Joli-Coeur (Canada, aged 15). This young photographer has
knitted together several high resolution images of the Moon in the
daytime sky to form a colourful mosaic. This wonderfully detailed view
shows the smooth dark maria (lunar ‘seas’) and lighter, bumpier
highlands of the Moon, both dotted with craters. The peaceful blue
colour of the daytime sky is caused by scattering of blue light in the
Earth’s atmosphere.
Deep Space category highly commended: Sharpless-136: Ghost in Cepheus
by Oleg Bryzgalov (Ukraine). The spooky shapes that seem to haunt this
starry expanse are in fact cosmic dust clouds that fill huge volumes of
space between the stars. The dust consists of tiny grains of minerals
and ices and is an important building block for the formation of future
stars and planets. The photographer had to travel 1,000 kilometres into
the mountains of the Crimea to find a sky dark enough to capture this
image.
Earth and Space category runner-up: Green World by Arild Heitmann
(Norway). The aurora borealis traces the shifting patterns of the
Earth’s magnetic field, creating a spectacular midwinter show in
Nordland Fylke, Norway. The green light in this image comes from oxygen
atoms high in the atmosphere, which have been energised by subatomic
particles from the Solar Wind.
Earth and Space category winner: Star Icefall by Masahiro Miyasaka
(Japan). Taken in Nagano, Japan, this image shows Orion, Taurus and the
Pleiades as the backdrop to an eerie frozen landscape. Though the stars
appear to gleam with a cold, frosty light, bright blue stars like the
Pleiades can be as hot as 30,000 degrees Celsius.
Earth and Space category highly commended: Summer Nights in Michigan by
Michael A Rosinski (USA). This long-exposure image contrasts the regular
arcs of star trails with the chaotic swarming of fireflies - celestial,
natural and manmade light are captured in a single photograph.
