{"id":856909,"date":"2026-09-22T19:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/856909\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T19:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:02:17","slug":"a-deep-space-shark-is-prowling-the-cosmos-and-the-photo-just-won-a-major-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/856909\/","title":{"rendered":"A Deep-Space Shark Is Prowling the Cosmos\u2014and the Photo Just Won a Major Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

The universe is showing off in dazzling images highlighted by the Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards. From closeup views of our solar system to distant wonders of galaxies and nebulae, this year\u2019s competition winners have captured the diverse wonders of space in haunting detail.<\/p>\n

The competition, organized by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, attracted nearly 4,000 entries from photographers around the world. The overall winner of the competition is The Quiet Predator by Ali Alobaidly from Kuwait, which captures the massive, dark absorption of the Shark Nebula. The panel of judges also selected winners across eight different categories, in addition to two special prizes.<\/p>\n

The full list of winners can be viewed here<\/a>, and they will also be on public display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. Below are a few of Gizmodo\u2019s favorite picks from the 18th edition of the space photography awards.<\/p>\n

Stellar leftovers \"AbellAbell 85. Credit: C\u00e9dric Humbert <\/p>\n

Located in the constellation Cassiopeia around 9,780 light-years away from Earth, Abell 85 is an expanding shell of gas left behind in the aftermath of a star\u2019s death. The faint supernova remnant is extremely dim and challenging to capture.<\/p>\n

To obtain this highly commended image in the stars and nebula category, photographer C\u00e9dric Humbert used 30 hours of exposure to highlight the doubly ionized oxygen signal and bring out the filaments of the ball of matter at the center.<\/p>\n

Anatomy of the chromosphere \"AnatomyAnatomy of the Chromosphere. Credit: Peter Ward <\/p>\n

This runner-up image reveals the Sun like we\u2019ve never seen it before.<\/p>\n

Photographer Peter Ward chose to highlight the layers of the Sun\u2019s chromosphere, or the part of the star\u2019s atmosphere located just above the visible surface. \u201cThe image reveals the chromosphere\u2019s deep hidden structure. Calcium-H structures shimmer in electric lilac, interwoven with the scarlet glow of ionised hydrogen. Red H-alpha filaments cross the solar surface, and prominences rise from the limb [the edge of the solar disc],\u201d Ward explained in a statement. \u201cThe blue component reveals the Sun\u2019s magnetic architecture, highlighting the areas where powerful magnetic fields erupt through the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crown \"TheThe Crown. Credit: Radoslav Sviretsov <\/p>\n

A quiet scene of magnetic beauty captures a powerful backdrop of the Northern Lights against a small church in Iceland\u2019s F\u00falipollur.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn moments like this, I feel nothing but gratitude for being in the right place at the right time. The aurora sighting unfolded during a particularly strong geomagnetic storm, an event that allowed us to witness the Northern Lights in a way rarely seen,\u201d photographer Radoslav Sviretsov said in a statement. \u201cThis small traditional Icelandic church lies between Keflav\u00edk and Reykjav\u00edk, far from light pollution, a place where the sky remains dark and truly alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quiet predator \"TheThe Quiet Predator. Credit: Ali Alobaidly <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes a photograph comes alive through its flawless presentation, pin-sharp details and dynamic contrast of light and dark. This is such an image,\u201d Steve Marsh, competition judge, said of the overall winning photo.<\/p>\n

The shark nebula is made up of clouds of interstellar gas and dust that stretch into the shape of the iconic apex predator. \u201cThe Shark Nebula is already a striking object, but when it is resolved to the point where even detail-rich distant galaxies can be seen through it, you know you\u2019re looking at something very special,\u201d Marsh elaborated in a statement. \u201cPerfectly rendered, softly glowing stars visible to the very edges of the frame, thin wisps of tenuous nebulosity consistent across the whole \u2018shark\u2019 and a brilliantly resolved dark nebula patch for its eye put this image at the very forefront of modern astrophotography.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venusian pearl \"VenusianVenusian Pearl on the Moon. Credit: Petr Horalek <\/p>\n

On September 19, 2025, the Moon crossed in front of Venus\u2019 path in the daytime sky, creating a rare lunar occultation of the planet.<\/p>\n

Photographer Petr Horalek captured this moment as Venus dipped the crescent Moon. \u201cIt was a big challenge to find both objects in the sky and produce good shots of this unusual view,\u201d Horalek said in a statement. \u201cFortunately, the weather was perfect and I was able to do it. The most beautiful moment was when Venus had just started to disappear behind the crescent. It looked like a bright pearl on the lunar limb.\u201d<\/p>\n

A message from the ancients \"AA Message From The Ancients. Credit: Max Inwood <\/p>\n

In this stunning contrast between the night skies and their influence on people, photographer Max Inwood captured an ancient petroglyph panel, known as the 13 Moons, in the California desert.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis petroglyph is thought to be an ancient calendar depicting the 13 Full Moons that Earth can experience in a year,\u201d Inwood said. \u201cIn this photograph I captured the northern constellation Cygnus above the site. This region of the Milky Way is full of bright hydrogen emission nebulae, which contribute to the reds and pinks seen in the sky. The colors contrasted beautifully with the strong green airglow present on the horizon, creating a rainbow of tones. A small light was used to illuminate the petroglyph, which would otherwise be difficult to see in detail under the pristine dark sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Echoes of an ancient explosion \"M1M1 Echoes Of An Ancient Explosion. Credit: Haocheng Zhu <\/p>\n

Photographer Haocheng Zhu is the winner of the best newcomer category for capturing the bright supernova remnant known as the Crab Nebula (Messier 1 or M1).<\/p>\n

\u201cI began astrophotography less than a year ago and M1 reshaped how I see the night sky,\u201d Zhu said. \u201cIn 1054 CE, during China\u2019s Song Dynasty, astronomers recorded a \u201cguest star\u201d bright enough to be visible even in daylight\u2014a supernova whose remnant we now know as the Crab Nebula. Its tangled filaments still expand through space, carrying the energy of an explosion witnessed nearly 1,000 years ago. What appears faint today was once brilliant to the naked eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comet Lemmon \"CometComet C2025 A6 (lemmon). Credit: Julien De Winter And Landon Boehm <\/p>\n

Newly discovered Comet C\/2025 A6 (Lemmon) made its closest approach to Earth in October 2025 before it disappeared from sight.<\/p>\n

This image was taken from the Starfront Observatories in Texas when the comet was approximately 63 million miles (101 million kilometers) away from Earth on October 28, 2025. \u201cA few days before it reached perihelion on 8 November, its closest approach to the Sun, the comet was already displaying remarkable activity and offered an extraordinary sight in the night sky,\u201d photographers Julien De Winter and Landon Boehm said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The universe is showing off in dazzling images highlighted by the Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards. From…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6626,2608,79],"class_list":["post-856909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-astronomy","tag-astrophotography","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}