Baily’s Beads, Yu Jun

These are the impressive winners of the 2016 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

The competition organized by the Royal Museums Greenwich, received an amazing 4,500 entries from over 80 countries.

Here are the winning images, along with the runner’s up, for each category:

Above, Overall Winner: Baily’s Beads, Yu Jun

China’s Yu Jun captured the “Baily’s Beads” effect during the total solar eclipse of March 9, 2016, as seen from Luwuk, Indonesia.

Planets, Comets & Asteroids, category: Serene Saturn, Damian Peach

Serene Saturn, Damian Peach

Saturn’s famed rings in great detail.

 

Aurorae category: Twilight Aurora, György Soponyai

Twilight Aurora, György Soponyai

Aurora Borealis above the Adventtoppen Mountain in Norway.

 

Skyscapes category: Binary Haze, Ainsley Bennett

Binary Haze, Ainsley Bennett

The obscuring weather actually accentuated the brightness the crescent Moon and Venus.

 

Galaxies category: M94 Deep Space Halo, Nicolas Outters

M94 Deep Space Halo, Nicolas Outters

Messier 94, is a distant spiral galaxy lying approximately 16 million light years away from us.

 

Our Moon category: From Maurolycus to Moretus, Jordi Delpeix Borrell

From Maurolycus to Moretus, Jordi Delpeix Borrell

An impressive close-up view of the lunar landscape.

 

Stars & Nebulae category: The Rainbow Star, Steve Brown

The Rainbow Star, Steve Brown

Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. The winner he videoed the star, then collected the frames with the most striking colors.

 

People and Space: City Lights, Wing Ka Ho

City Lights, Wing Ka Ho

The 2016 winner for the People and Space category is ‘City Lights’ by Wing Ka Ho (Hong Kong), taken at Quarry Bay.

 

Young Photogapher (under 15) category: Lunar Reversal, Brendan Devine

Lunar Reversal, Brendan Devine

A stunning, high-contrast image of the Moon.

 

Best Newcomer: Large Magellanic Cloud, Carlos Fairbairn

Large Magellanic Cloud, Carlos Fairbairn

The Milky Way’s satellite galaxy, our closer neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

 

Robotic Scope category: Iridis, Robert Smith

Iridis, Robert Smith

In this composite image of two planetary nebulae, the Cat’s Eye Nebula is at the top and the Ring Nebula below.

source Royal Museums Greenwich