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.
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