Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 winner eclipses all others!

Distorted Shadows of the Moon’s Surface Created by an Annular Eclipse .

It’s been an incredible year for cosmic events and astrophotography, so it’s no surprise that the winners of the Royal Observatory Greenwich Astronomy Photographer of the Year 16 are stunning. 

The overall winner is Ryan Imperio for his photograph, Distorted Shadows of the Moon’s Surface Created by an Annular Eclipse, that captures the progression of Baily’s beads during the 2023 annular eclipse. 

(Image credit: © Bence Tóth, Péter Feltóti )

His beautiful and unusual photograph was taken in Odessa, Texas, in October last year using a Nikon D810 camera, iOptron SkyGuider Pro star tracker mount, Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens at 600mm f/8, ISO 640, multiple 1/1,000-second exposures.

Baily’s beads are formed when sunlight shines through the valleys and craters of the Moon’s surface, breaking the eclipse’s well-known ring pattern, and are only visible when the Moon either enters or exits an eclipse. These are a challenge to capture due to their brevity and the precise timing needed. 

Winner of the "Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation" - Original data from GOES-18 ABI (Bands 1 to 16 (0.47 to 13.3 microns)) from 18 February 2024 and Suomi-NPP VIIRS (0.5 to 0.9 microns) from 2012–2020  (Image credit: © Sergio Díaz Ruiz)

Imperio said: 

“The images selected each year are absolutely astonishing and I am both thrilled and honoured to have my photo among them. I had hoped my image would be shared in some way but never expected to be selected as a winner, let alone Overall Winner!”

He wins £10,000 ($13,000) and a one-year subscription to BBC Sky at Night Magazine. 

Winner of the "Young" category - Taken with a ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera, Samyang 135 mm F2.0 lens, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount, 135 mm f/2.8, 263 × 300-second exposures, 228 × 180-second exposures (33 hours 19 minutes total exposure)  (Image credit: ©  Daniele Borsari )

The Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year award was won by Daniel Borsari for his image NGC NGC 1499, A Dusty California, and received £1,500 ($1,960). 

Neal White, judge and artist, commented that “it demonstrated the future of astronomy photography being fearlessly, and openly, taken forward by a new generation.”

Winner of the "Stars & Nebulae" category - Taken with a Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4 telescope, Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro and Paramount MyT GEM mounts, QHYCCD QHY600PH-M, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro and ZWO ASI6200MM Pro cameras, 530 mm and 382 mm f/3.6 and f/5, 258 hours 32 minutes total exposure with 60-second, 180-second, 300-second and 600-second subframes (Image credit: © Marcel Drechsler, Bray Falls, Yann Sainty, Nicolas Martino, Richard Galli )

 The other winning images, who will also receive £1,500, include Aurora Borealis over Brighton Seafront by Michael Steven Harris, which beautifully captures the pink hues of the aurora despite the significant light pollution in the area. 

Winner of "The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer" - Taken with a Takahashi TOA-130NS telescope, Sky-Watcher EQ8 mount, ZWO ASI6200MM-Cool camera, 1,000 mm f/7.7, Gain 100, 144 x 600-second H-alpha exposures, 140 x 600-second OIII exposures (Image credit: © Xin Feng, Miao Gong)

Tasman Gems by Tom Rae, a Milky Way photograph of the southern hemisphere night sky including the hydrogen clouds of the Gum Nebula. Parallel Lines Over the City by Ran Shen which uses a simple but powerful composition to show the trajectories of Venus and Jupiter over the skyline of Lujiazui, Shanghai.

Winner of the "People and Space" category - Taken with a Sky-Watcher Evostar 120 telescope, Max (IMX432) camera, 4,300 mm f/35, ISS: 19 x 0.70-millisecond exposures; Sun: 7,500 x 12-millisecond exposures Daystar Quark Chromosphere filter, Sky-Watcher EQ3 Pro mount, Player One Apollo-M  (Image credit: © Tom Williams )

In the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation category, judges awarded the winning prize to Anatomy of a Habitable Planet by Sergio Díaz Ruiz. This image shows Earth as a seemingly alien world as a distant civilisation might study it.

I highly recommend you take a look at all the runners up, who will receive £500 ($650), as well as the highly commended, who will receive £250 ($325).  

Winner of the "Galaxies" category - Taken with a Custom-built 200/800 Newton astrograph telescope, Astronomik Deep-Sky LRGB filters, Antlia V-Pro LRGB filters and Antlia 3 nm H-alpha bandpass filter, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro and Sky-Watcher EQ6 mounts, ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera, 800 mm f/4, 16.2-hour L, 5.3-hour R, G and B, and 5.6-hour H-alpha exposures  (Image credit: © Bence Tóth, Péter Feltóti )

Winner of the "Aurorae" category - Taken with a Canon EOS R5 H-alpha modified camera, 35 mm panorama f/2.8, ISO 3,200, Sky: 8 second-exposure, Foreground: 30-second exposure   (Image credit: © Larryn Rae)

Winner of the "Our Moon" category - Taken with a Heyde-Zeiss refractor telescope, ZWO green filter, ZWO ASI178MM-pro camera, 4,500 mm f/15 (Image credit: © Gábor Balázs )

Winner of the "Planets, Comets, & Asteroids" category - Taken with a Sky-Watcher 400P (16") GoTo Dobsonian Reflector telescope, Baader Bessel (U)BVRI and RG610 filters, ZWO ASI462MM camera, 5,000 mm f/12.3, multiple 15-millisecond exposures  (Image credit: © Tom Williams )

Winner of the "Skyscapes" category - Taken with a Nikon Z 6 astro-modified and Nikon Z7 cameras, iOptron SkyGuider Pro mount, Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art and Sigma 28 mm f/1.4 Art lens, Sky: ISO 1,600, 40mm f/1.8, 31 x 30-second exposures;  Foreground: ISO 100, 28mm f/10-14, 9 x 4-second exposures (Image credit: © Tom Rae )

Check out our guide to the best cameras for astrophotography, and the best lenses to capture the night sky.