The shortlisted astrophotos of the 2020 Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition have been released, featuring beautiful images capturing a wealth of celestial phenomena from galaxies and nebulae to skyscapes and planetary portraits, and vistas of our Sun and Moon.
Hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the annual competition is now entering its 12th year running.
The 2020 winning images are due to be announced on 10 September, with the overall winner taking home the top prize of £10,000, and £1,500 going to those entrants who have have come first in the individual categories.
Runners-up will receive £500 and highly commended entrants will receive £250.
An exhibition of the winning images and a selection from the shortlist will be available to view at the National Maritime Museum from October 2020.
- See the winning images from the 2019 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.
View our gallery of this year's IIAPY shortlisted images:
This year the competition received over 5,200 entries from amateur and professional astrophotographers from nearly 70 countries across the world.
Astro imagers were able to submit for the first time to a new category: the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation, open for images processed using source data such as that captured by NASA space probes and made available for public use (for more on this read our guide: How to process images from raw space data).
Astronomy Photographer of the Year categories:
- Skyscapes
- Aurorae
- People and Space
- Our Sun
- Our Moon
- Planets, Comets and Asteroids
- Stars and Nebulae
- Galaxies
- Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year
- The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer
- The Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation
For more information and details on how to enter next year's competition, visit the official website of the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year.
Keep up with the awards on social media and find out who has won the top prize this year via the hashtag #astrophoto2020 or by following Royal Museums Greenwich on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
BBC Sky at Night Magazine will also be revealing the winners as they are announced. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
