The winners of the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award have been revealed, showcasing a spectacular selection of night sky images that reveal the majesty of ancient galaxies, nebulas, stellar cities and of course, Earth's moon.

Astrophotographers from across the globe submitted over 5,800 entries in the various categories for the 17th annual competition hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in conjunction with astronomy camera manufacturer ZWO. The results of the contest, as judged by an international panel of experts, were announced in a livestreamed ceremony on Sept. 11.

The overall winner — a spectacular portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy by photographers Weitang Liang, Qi Yang and Chuhong Yu — is set to be displayed in a special exhibit at the National Maritime Museum in the U.K. from Sept. 12, along with the victors of each category.

"Once again, ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year offers up some of the best astrophotography in the world," said Dr. Ed Bloomer, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory who acted as one of the judges for the 2025 competition. "This year I believe we're particularly strong on images which ask the observer to really think about what they're looking at and investigate just how the astrophotographer has achieved those particular results, this proved true for the judges as well!"

Read on to see the winners from each category of the 17th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award, including a spectacular example of orbital astrophotography courtesy of NASA astronaut Don Pettit.

Auroras — Crown of Light by Kavan Chay

Photographer Kavan Chay took this spectacular image of a red, green and yellow aurora dancing through the starry sky above Tumbledown Bay in New Zealand on May 10, 2024 during a category G5 geomagnetic storm. The foreground and aurora were captured over the course of separate nights using a Nikon Z 7 astro-modified camera.

Our moon — The Trace of Refraction by Marcella Giulia Pace

Marcella Giulia Pace captured the light of the moon as it was scattered and refracted by Earth's atmosphere above the Italian island of Sicily on Apr. 7, 2024. The hues seen in the image occur as a result of Rayleigh scattering, wherein our atmosphere deflects the shorter, bluer wavelengths of reflected light, while allowing longer wavelengths to travel through relatively unhindered.

Our sun — Active Region of the sun's Chromosphere by James Sinclair

This breathtaking image from James Sinclair gives us a detailed view of a section of the sun's atmosphere known as the chromosphere — a chaotic region where hydrogen and helium plasma is molded and reshaped by our star's ever-shifting magnetic field. The image is the result of a 10-second exposure taken with a Lunt 130 mm telescope in conjunction with a Player One Astronomy camera.

People & Space — ISS Lunar Flyby by Tom Williams

Tom Williams took this snapshot of the International Space Station as it passed close to the cratered surface of Earth's moon on Oct. 27 last year using a Sky Watcher 400P GoTo Dobsonian telescope with an astronomy camera on a 1.5-millisecond exposure.

Planets, comets & asteroids — Comet 12P/Pons−Brooks Taking a Final Bow by Dan Bartlett

This shot of the wandering comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was taken in early 2024 around the solar maximum by Dan Bartlett, who was able to capture spectacular structural detail in the trail of the wandering solar system body.

Skyscapes — The Ridge by Tom Rae

Tom Rae took this gorgeous panorama of the Milky Way forming a galactic arch in the star-studded sky above glacial rivers in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand on April 8, 2024. The image is comprised of a staggering 62 images totaling over a billion pixels.

Stars & Nebulas — M13: An Ultra-Deep Exposure of the Popular Cluster by Distant Luminosity

Julian Zoller, Jan Beckmann, Lukas Eisert and Wolfgang Hummel took aim at the Great Hercules Cluster of stars located some 22,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules. Over 29 hours of exposure time was needed to capture the teeming city of stars using a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera mounted on a 200 mm Newtonian telescope.

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer — Encounter Across Light Years by Yurui Gong, Xizhen Ruan

This surprise shot of a bright Perseid meteor captured streaking through the patch of sky containing the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) was captured by Yurui Gong and Xizhen Ruan using a Nikon Z 30 camera on Aug. 12, 2024, as the shower hit its peak.

ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year — Orion, the Horsehead and the Flame in H-alpha by Daniele Borsari

Daniele Borsari created this monochrome view of the famous Horsehead and Orion nebulas from over 22 hours of observations made from Italy over the course of several nights in January and February earlier this year.

Annie Maunder Open Category — Fourth Dimension by Leonardo Di Maggio

For this image, Leonardo Di Maggio combined an image she took of a geometric pattern contained in a meteorite with gravitational lensing deep space observation data captured by the James Webb Space Telescope to create the impression of a fourth dimension or alien city with a monochrome aesthetic.

Overall winner: Galaxies — The Andromeda Core by Weitang Liang, Qi Yang, Chuhong Yu

This magnificent image portrait of the Andromeda Galaxy by Weitang Liang, Qi Yang and Chuhong Yu is the overall winner of the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award and features a shockingly detailed view of the Milky Way's closest neighbor.

"Not to show it all − this is one of the greatest virtues of this photo," explained László Francsics, an astrophotographer who helped judge this year's competition. "The Andromeda Galaxy has been photographed in so many different ways and so many times with telescopes that it is hard to imagine a new photo would ever add to what we've already seen. But this does just that, an unusual dynamic composition with unprecedented detail that doesn’t obscure the overall scene."

The image reveals the complex structure present in the heart of the spiral galaxy, which was captured over the course of 38 hours from the AstroCamp Observatory in Spain using an impressive 20-inch aperture telescope fitted with a range of filters.

"We are excited to be awarded and never expected to be the Overall Winner," said Liang, Yang and Yu in a press release announcing the winners. "Thanks to ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year, we have the opportunity to bring our work and the splendor of the universe to everybody."

Special Feature — Earth From Orbit by Don Pettit

This image of Earth taken from the International Space Station was captured by astronaut and renown orbital photographer Don Pettit in March 2025, as he served as part of the Expedition 72 crew. Pettit was able to capture the stars as fixed points by using a homemade sidereal star tracker that accounted for the motion of the ISS, while allowing Earth to blur as it spun on its axis down below.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

The winners of the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 will be revealed live online on Sept. 11 and you can follow along for free thanks to a livestream hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich starting at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) on Sept. 11.

Each year, the Royal Observatory, supported by astronomy camera and accessory manufacturer ZWO, holds an open competition to celebrate the very best images of the night sky as captured by the global astrophotography community. Categories span everything from galaxies and nebulas to auroras, the sun and 'People & Space,' with winners and runners-up chosen by an international judging panel.

How to watch

The ceremony will be broadcast on the Royal Museums Greenwich YouTube channel and hosted by Royal Observatory astronomer Dr. Ed Bloomer with special guests.

Bloomer will delve into the story and inspiration behind each of the winning entries, including those of the overall winner, who will walk away with the £10,000 ($13,540) grand prize.

The winning photographs were selected from more than 5,800 spectacular entries submitted by astrophotographers hailing from over 60 countries. The best image from each category will take pride of place in a special exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in London, U.K., opening Sept. 12.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Behold! The 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Awards shortlist has been released, showcasing a spectacular array of astrophotography images ranging from solar prominences and auroras to distant galaxies and beguiling nebulas.

For the past 17 years, the Royal Observatory Greenwich — supported by astronomy camera maker ZWO — has called on the global photography community to compete in an open competition celebrating the majesty and variety of our night sky.

The 2025 competition saw photographers from 69 countries submit over 5,500 entries to compete in a plethora of diverse categories to gain recognition and, naturally, prize money. The overall winner of the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the year will bag a £10,000 (about $13,560 U.S.) grand prize, while the photographers who come out on top in each individual category receive £1,500 (about $2,030 U.S.) for their valiant efforts.

"At ZWO, we believe that astrophotography is not only a way to record the cosmos, but also a way to inspire curiosity, foster education and build communities that transcend borders," said ZWO founder Sam Wen in a press release revealing the shortlisted images. "Everyone deserves a chance to connect with the universe — and through our support, we hope to bring that experience to more people."

The winners of each category will be announced in an awards ceremony in September later this year, with the victorious entries — and select runners-up — later being exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in London.

Read on to see the spectacular images shortlisted for the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the year awards!

Auroras

This image of a swirling green aurora was captured from a remote location on the Senja Peninsula in northern Norway by Filip Brebenda on Sept 12, 2024. Silvery birch trees dominate the foreground, while a rocky outcrop frames the aurora dancing through the sky above, which is reflected in a placid pool of water between the trunks.

Photographer Daniel Zafra was able to capture a rare occurrence of a magenta and green aurora reflecting off the waters of California's Mono Lake in October 2024, alongside protruding rocky formations.

Vincent Beudez imaged a breathtaking auroral display reminiscent of an arctic flower unfolding in the skies over Tromsø in northern Norway on April 4, 2024, framed by the snowy peaks of nearby mountains. He used a Sony Alpha 7S III camera to get the shot.

Galaxies

An image of the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), as captured by astrophotographers Bence Tóth, Péter Feltóti, Bertalan Kecskés from Hungary over the course of several sessions over November-December 2024. The galaxy can be seen undergoing a burst of star formation thanks to the tidal influence of a galactic neighbor, with the glowing red form of an emission nebula visible throughout, giving the impression of a cosmic firework display.

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) can be seen shining with the light of countless stars and nebulas in this image taken from the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, China in late 2024. It took around 216 hours to capture the ancient light used in the creation of the image, which shows the bright central bulge and spiral arms of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbor in phenomenal detail.

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 2997 — also known as the Antlia Cabbage Galaxy — is pictured surrounded by glowing red cosmic clouds in this shot by Xinran Li taken from Río Hurtado, Chile in January and February earlier this year. The galaxy exists at a distance of 35 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Antlia and took around 10 hours of observing time to capture using a range of filters.

Our Moon

A distorted moon can be seen rising over the French château of Villebois-Lavalette in this shot by Flavien Beauvais. The shot was taken during the full moon phase in November 2024 using a Canon EOD R7 camera in conjunction with a Sigma 150-600 mm lens.

This composite image captured by Chayaphon Phanitloet from the Nakhon Ratchasima region of Thailand depicts a period in October 2024 when the moon slid in front of Saturn — visible to the left of the image — blocking its light.

Photographer Karthik Easvur created this portrait of a supermoon looming large in the sky over Delhi, India, in November 2024, by stitching together 24 separate images into a seamless mosaic. The so-called "Beaver Moon" was captured using a 6-inch aperture telescope in conjunction with a ZWO camera along with several more helpful peripherals and filters.

Our Sun

Zhang Yanguang was able to capture this perfectly timed composite shot of the International Space Station (ISS) sweeping across the face of the sun from the Fujian region of China on Jan. 24 ofthis year. The photographer deftly maintained the crisp profile of the space station when combining the images during post-processing, while revealing phenomenal detail on the surface of our parent star.

This image of a 311,000-mile-long (500,000 kilometers) solar prominence erupting from the sun was captured on Nov. 7, 2024 from Guangdong province in China by astrophotographer PengFei Chou. The image is constructed from 20 stacked data sets captured over the course of the hour-long eruption.

An artistic view of the sun captured by photographer Damien Cannane, depicting the different phases of a solar eclipse. The arcs in between the eclipsed suns represent a phenomenon known as "Baily's Beads," which arise as sunlight shines through valleys on the lunar surface in the moments before and after totality.

People & Space

Tianyao Yang took this picture of the July 2024 full moon behind skyscrapers in the Lujiazui district of Shanghai. The shot was the culmination of five years of planning and was taken from a distance of 16.5 miles (26.5 km) using a long lens, allowing the photographer to give the moon an outsized appearance compared to the foreground buildings.

This picture, taken from Songyang County, China by photographer Yujie Zhang in August 2024, shows the bright ribbon of the Milky Way tumbling toward a collection of geometric buildings reflected in a foreground body of water.

This placid scene taken with a Canon R6 Mark II camera by photographer Paul Joels captures the Milky Way in the sky over a boathouse in Lulworth Cove in the U.K. A multitude of stars can be seen shining down on the seaside vista, twinkling above a lone boat resting on the roadside.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is seen streaking through the sky above Honolulu, Hawaii, as captured from the Pu'u O Kaimukī Park by photographer Ran Shen on Oct. 12, 2024.

Chester Hall-Fernandez captured this view of the Milky Way setting parallel to the horizon over the Mount John Observatory in New Zealand on July 21, 2024. The MOA-II telescope — the largest telescope on New Zealand's South Island — can be seen to the right of the image, observing the countless stars populating the southern hemisphere night sky.

Planets, Comets & Asteroids

An image of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS captured from Namibia in southern Africa by photographers Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger in September last year, featuring dust (grey) and ion (blue) tails. The "kinks" in the more tenuous ion trail are created as the solar wind pouring from our parent star impacts the particle trail shed by the wandering comet.

This family portrait of solar system planets — excluding Earth for obvious reasons — was captured with the aid of a 20-inch Dobsonian telescope in Bavaria, Germany, between September 2023 and December 2024 by astrophotographer Sophie Paulin. The planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — can be seen parading in a line from left to right in the composite piece.

Skyscapes

Benjamin Barakat captured this image of a lone tree standing in front of star trails from the Hidaybu district of Yemen on March 13, 2024 using a Sony Alpha 7 IV camera.

A full moon is pictured rising over the Dolomite mountains in Italy by photographer Fabian Dalpiaz in November 2024, as the last of the sunlight catches the upper slopes on a cloudless evening.

This composite shot of the Milky Way was captured by Yoshiki Abe from the mouth of a remote cave in the coastal region of Yamaguchi, Japan on Oct. 12, 2024. The foreground image was snapped during a brief window known to photographers as the "blue hour," which occurs around the time that the sun sets, infusing the environment with a blueish hue. Abe captured his image of the Milky Way later that same night.

A 23,000 pixel-wide panorama of the Utah Desert, imaged at night by astrophotographer Jim Hildreth with the Milky Way arcing high overhead amongst a sea of stars.

Photographer Andreas Karaolis captured this panorama of the Milky Way's Cygnus region streaking over a verdant hillside in Cyprus in October 2024. Karaolis also made use of the blue hour to capture the foreground image, snapping a series of 30- and 120-second exposures to capture it and the cosmic scene above, before combining them in the post-processing step.

Stars & Nebulas

This composite view of the Christmas Tree Nebula and Rosetta Nebula was captured from the Deep Sky Chile Observatory in November and December last year. The colorful view is the result of 150 hours of observation, during which the ancient light of the nebulas was collected using a wide range of filters.

A portrait of the "Running Chicken Nebula" (IC 2944) — an enormous stellar nursery located in the constellation Centaurus — captured by astrophotographer Rod Prazeres from Queensland, Australia over the course of several nights in March and April 2024.

Shaoyu Zhang took this electric view of the "Spaghetti Nebula" (Simeis 147) from Chile and Sichuan, China between December 2024 and February 2025. Over 148 hours of exposure time were used to obtain a "full-spectrum" image of the vast supernova remnant to reveal structures ordinarily hidden behind a veil of cosmic dust.

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer

An image of the Abel 85 supernova remnant captured in the skies above China by Deqian Li. Li used 23.4 hours of light data to create the image, which was captured over the course of a six-day camping trip in Hongyuan county, China with a Takahashi Epsilon-160ED telescope paired with a ZWO astronomy camera.

ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year

A 22-megapixel panorama showing the different stages of a total solar eclipse captured during the April 8, 2024 event by photographer Louis Egan from Quebec, Canada. The final piece was created using around 200 individual images.

Annie Maunder Open Category

Peter Ward's "neon sun" effect was created using ultraviolet data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which was remapped to colors visible to the naked eye, and turned "inside out" to surround the sun.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Astrophotographers, start your engines. 

The Royal Observatory Greenwich's 15th annual Photographer of the Year competition is about to begin. From Jan. 9 through 7:00 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) on March 3, photographers from around the world can submit up to 10 space-related images to the competition, which seeks to find "the most striking images of our cosmos" — ones that have been taken after Jan. 1, 2022, that is.

2023 looks to be a promising year for skywatching with a naked-eye comet visiting for the first time in 50,000 years and an annular solar eclipse on top of the usual highlights such as annual meteor showers, so there will be plenty of tantalizing targets for astrophotographers to point their cameras at.

Related: Stunning image of Comet Leonard breakup wins top astronomy photography prize of 2022

Awards will be granted to an overall winner, plus winners across the following eight categories:

• Skyscapes (which must include an element of earthly scenery) 
• Auroras
• People and space
• Our sun
• Our moon
• Planets, comets, and asteroids
• Stars and nebulas
• Galaxies

There's also a Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year for photographers under the age of 16, as well as two special awards: the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer and the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation, which celebrates images processed with open-source data.

The overall Astronomy Photographer of the Year will win £10,000, while winners of the sub-categories and the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year will win £1,500. 

Runners-up and highly-commended entries in the sub-categories will get £500 and £250, respectively, and each special award winner will receive £750. All winners will also receive a one-year subscription to BBC Sky at Night Magazine, and the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year will receive a Celestron Astromaster 130EQ MD telescope.

To enter the Royal Observatory Greenwich's 15th annual Photographer of the Year competition, read through the competition rules, then head to apy.rmg.co.uk to submit your entries. The winners will be announced on Sept. 14, 2023, with all winning photographs being exhibited at London's National Maritime Museum afterward. 

Thinking about entering, but haven't taken your photo yet? Photographers looking for helpful tips should check out our beginner's guide to astrophotography. And if you're in need of an equipment upgrade, we've got you covered there, too: take a look through our guides to the best astrophotography cameras and best astrophotography lenses.

Follow Stefanie Waldek on Twitter @StefanieWaldek. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

Judging is underway to choose the most beautiful photos of the night sky from among thousands of entries in the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.

The competition is being held by England's Royal Observatory Greenwich, which will award cash prizes in various categories, including photos of objects in our solar system, in the wider cosmos, and scenic pics of a dazzling sky over landscapes on Earth.

Photos submitted for the awards range from surreal green streaks through the sky caused by the northern lights over Canada, to an eerily red-looking moon captured during a lunar eclipse, and glowing stars, gas and dust in the star cluster IC 1396.

"Shortlisted entries include a breath-taking view of stars over snow-covered Japanese mountains; the full Moon setting behind a historic abbey on Mount Pirchiriano in Italy; a meteor streaking through the sky above a rock formation in Utah, USA; and a group of friends stargazing at a caravan site in the Gower Peninsular, South Wales," Royal Observatory Greenwich officials wrote in a statement. "The diversity of locations is not just limited to Earth. Photographers have also captured sights from across our solar system, galaxy and beyond; from detailed mosaics of our moon's surface, to shimmering dust columns in distant nebulae, and out beyond the Milky Way to the swirling Andromeda Galaxy." [Photos: Royal Observatory’s 2012 Space Photographer of the Year Finalists]

Now in its fourth year, the contest has gathered judges from diverse backgrounds, including journalists, scientists, historians and artists, to choose the winners. The final selections will be announced Sept. 19, and the awards ceremony will be tweeted live on Twitter using the hashtag #astrophoto12.

The overall winner of the title Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2012 will be awarded £1,500 ($2,374), with £500 ($792) given to the winners of subcategories: Earth and Space, Our Solar System, Deep Space: and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year. Special prizes will also be given in these categories: People and Space, Best Newcomer, and Robotic Scope Image of the Year.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is the spot where the Prime Meridian line is drawn, separating the eastern and western hemispheres of Earth. The observatory, which was founded in 1675, is also where Greenwich Mean Time is kept.

Though the submission period for this year's contest has already closed, if you've taken a great photo of space and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a possible gallery or article, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

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