{"id":230195,"date":"2026-01-10T02:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T02:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/230195\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T02:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T02:57:23","slug":"the-worlds-biggest-astrophotography-competition-is-open-for-entries-with-a-top-price-of-10000-up-for-grabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/230195\/","title":{"rendered":"The world’s biggest astrophotography competition is open for entries, with a top price of \u00a310,000 up for grabs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has officially opened entries for ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2026, the world\u2019s premier astrophotography competition \u2013 and this year\u2019s contest is shaping up to be bigger than ever.<\/p>\n

With entries open from 5 January to midday on 2 March 2026, the contest invites photographers worldwide to submit up to 10 of their best night-sky images of 2025 for a chance to be named Astronomy Photographer of the Year.<\/p>\n

\"TheCredit: National Maritime Museum, London<\/p>\n

The overall winner will take home \u00a310,000, with category winners earning \u00a31,500, runners-up \u00a3500 and highly commended entries awarded \u00a3250.<\/p>\n

Open to all ages and experience levels, the competition celebrates both technical excellence and artistic creativity. There\u2019s also a category for under 16s.<\/p>\n

Find out more about each category, see last year’s winners and get all the info on how to enter, below.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Andromeda Core by Weitang Liang, Qi Yang, Chuhong Yu, topped the Galaxies category and was the overall winner of the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 competition
\nKey dates<\/p>\n

Competition opens: 5 January 2026 \u00a0
\nEntry closing date: 2 March 2026
\nEntrance fee: \u00a310 for 10 entries; free for special prize categories\/under 16s
\nHow to enter and rules: see the official website at www.rmg.co.uk\/astrocomp\u00a0<\/p>\n

An exhibition of the winning images will go on show at the National Maritime Museum, London.<\/p>\n

Categories
\nPlanets, Comets and Asteroids
\n\"CometComet 12P\/Pons\u2212Brooks Taking a Final Bow \u00a9 Dan Bartlett (USA). Winner, Planets, Comets and Asteroids, 2025<\/p>\n

Cracking comets, interstellar oddity 3I\/ATLAS, stormy Jupiter and Mars\u2019s retrograde motion near the Beehive Cluster all made it an exciting year for Solar System observers. If you managed to capture a great shot, this is the category for you.<\/p>\n

Aurorae
\n\"CrownCrown of Light \u00a9 Kavan Chay (New Zealand). Winner: Aurorae, 2025<\/p>\n

The Sun\u2019s recent surge in activity offered a great opportunity to capture some truly spectacular aurora displays. If you caught the aurora borealis or australis dancing across the sky, here\u2019s your chance to show off your most stunning results.<\/p>\n

People and Space
\n\"ISSISS Lunar Flyby \u00a9 Tom Williams (UK). Winner, People and Space, 2025<\/p>\n

The People and Space category highlights the strong connection with the night sky that we all feel. This award will go to a truly creative image that places our human experience in the greater context of the Universe around us.<\/p>\n

Skyscapes
\n\"TheThe Ridge \u00a9 Tom Rae (New Zealand). Winner, Skycapes, 2025<\/p>\n

A beautiful landscape or cityscape set against a stunning night-sky background can make an amazing image. If you\u2019ve got a photo that brilliantly combines land and sky, be sure to enter this hotly contested category.<\/p>\n

Our Moon
\n\"TheThe Trace of Refraction \u00a9 Marcella Giulia Pace (Italy). Winner, Our Moon, 2025<\/p>\n

Our celestial neighbour is always a great subject for astrophotography, particularly with last year\u2019s occultations and total eclipses. If you\u2019ve captured a photo of the Moon in all its glory, this category is here to celebrate your efforts.<\/p>\n

Our Sun
\n\"ActiveActive Region of the Sun’s Chromosphere \u00a9 James Sinclair (USA). Winner, Our Sun, 2025<\/p>\n

The Sun has been very active this past year, with high levels of flares, coronal mass ejections and intense geomagnetic storms. There\u2019s never been a better time to capture great solar shots (with the proper filters, of course). Enter them here.<\/p>\n

Stars and Nebulae
\n\"M13:M13: An Ultra-Deep Exposure of the Popular Cluster \u00a9 Distant Luminosity. Winner, Stars and Nebulae, 2025<\/p>\n

This award seeks out the finest examples of close-up images of stars and nebulae. Here\u2019s your chance to showcase the incredible explosions of colour and detail astrophotography can produce, in a way the naked eye can never see.<\/p>\n

Galaxies
\n\"CosmicCosmic Coincidences: Deer Lick and Stephan’s Quintet on a Ribbon of H-alpha \u00a9 Deep Sky Collective. Runner up, Galaxies, 2025<\/p>\n

If last year you managed to capture light that has journeyed for millions of years from deep\u2011space galaxies and galaxy clusters beyond the Milky Way \u2013 in all their astonishing variety \u2013 be sure to enter your photos for this award.<\/p>\n

ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year<\/p>\n

\"Orion,Orion, the Horsehead and the Flame in H-alpha \u00a9 Daniele Borsari (Italy). Winner, ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year, 2025<\/p>\n

Being young is no boundary to taking amazing astrophotos. This special category looks to encourage the great photographers of the future. If you are under the age of 16, you can enter your photos for free for a chance to win this award.<\/p>\n

Special Prize: Best Newcomer
\n\"EncounterEncounter Across Light Years \u00a9 Yurui Gong, Xizhen Ruan (all China). Sr Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer, 2025<\/p>\n

Have you just started trying out astrophotography in the past year? This category is especially for you. Open to amateurs who have never entered the competition before, it recognises those who are just beginning their exciting journey of exploring the cosmos through a lens.<\/p>\n

Special Prize: Annie Maunder Open Category
\n\"FourthFourth Dimension \u00a9 Leonardo Di Maggio (UK). Annie Maunder Open Category, 2025<\/p>\n

Celebrating creative, data-driven astrophotography, entries here can use any astronomical data of your own or from public datasets. Note: AI-generated or artificial data is not eligible. Find more details at the Royal Museums Greenwich Annie Maunder Open Category webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get more information about how to enter the 2026 competition via the Astronomy Photographer of the Year website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royal Observatory Greenwich has officially opened entries for ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2026, the world\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-230195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}