Are You the Astronomy Photographer of the Year?

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Calling all astro-photo geeks! (as well as those of us that just like to look). The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England is offering a brand new, free competition and exhibition for everyone who loves the night sky. It’s open to anyone, from anywhere, including a special category for astro-photo buffs under the age of 16. There are some great prizes up for grabs and winning entries will be displayed in a special exhibition at the Royal Observatory. This competition is an International Year of Astronomy event, and from all the photos submitted, a a giant, zoomable photo-collage of the Universe will be created. Even if you’re not a photographer, anyone interested in astronomy can go to the gallery on Flickr and soak in the eye candy. The competition has been open for awhile (and ends on July 19, 2009) and there are some awesome images taken by people from all around the world – some are absolutely breathtaking, like the image above taken by Dave Thompson, or the stunning image below taken by Robert Jackson.

Interested?

Here are the links to the Royal Observatory’s contest website, and the Flickr Astrophoto site.

There are three main competition categories. Judges will select one winner, one runner up and three highly commended entries from each, before deciding an overall winner to be crowned Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2009. There is also a special competition category for under 16s: Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

The categories and prizes are:

Overall winner – Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2009
Prize: £1000

Earth and Space
This is for photos that include landscape, people and other ‘Earthly’ things. Your picture should also include an astronomical subject – for example the stars, the Moon, or near-Earth phenomena such as aurora.

Winner: £250
Runner up: £100
Highly commended entries: £50

Our Solar System

This is for photos of our Sun and its family of planets, moons, asteroids and comets.

Winner: £250
Runner up: £100
Highly commended entries: £50

Deep Space
This is for photos of anything beyond our Solar System, including stars, nebulae and galaxies.

Winner: £250
Runner up: £100
Highly commended entries: £50

Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year
This is the competition category for under 16s.

Winner: £250
Runner up: £100
Highly commended entries: £50

Enter, or just enjoy the gorgeous images from people from all over the world!

Thanks to Dave Thompson and Robert Jackson for sharing their photos with us here on Universe Today. Check out more of their photostreams on Flickr by clicking on their names.

Source: Greenwich Observatory