Looking up at the night sky can make our everyday problems feel very small. But through the lenses of talented astrophotographers, the universe becomes even more extraordinary, revealing colors, patterns, and details that our eyes alone could never hope to see. That sense of wonder is at the heart of ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year, the annual competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich, supported by ZWO and held in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
Now in its 18th year, the contest welcomes photographers of all skill levels from around the world, with entries spanning everything from aurorae and galaxies to the Sun, Moon, planets, nebulae, and night skies shaped by the human landscape. Bored Panda readers may remember that we also featured the competition's spectacular 2025 shortlist. This year, almost 4,000 images were submitted by 769 entrants, representing 66 countries. From those thousands of submissions, 140 photographs have made the full shortlist. The competition brings together an expert judging panel drawn from different disciplines in art and astronomy, with photographs considered for their technical skill, artistic merit, and originality. Alongside eight adult categories, the competition also includes the ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition and two special prizes: the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer and the Annie Maunder Open Category.
Scroll down to see a selection from this year’s shortlisted images, and don't forget to upvote those that leave you most ‘starstruck.’
#21 “Path Towards The Stars” By Matteo Strassera
Category: Skyscapes
Description: “This panorama was taken in Tenerife, in the rocky and volcanic landscape of the Teide Plateau. Here, bushes and flowers find their way through the hardened lava.
Matteo Strassera composed the image to show the path winding around the peaks and pointing towards the galaxy. Strassera had less than an hour before the arc of the Milky Way rose too high in the sky to capture the panorama, so he rushed to capture all the detail that a 35-mm focal length can offer.
Taken with a Canon EOS R5 camera, Benro Polaris tripod head, Foreground: 14 mm f/4, ISO 4320, 8 x 121-second exposures; Sky: 35 mm f/1.6, ISO 400, 32 x 60-second exposures.”
Location: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 25 June 2025
8points
#22 “Ngc 7293: The Helix Nebula” By Humbert Cédric
Category: Stars & Nebulae
Description: “NGC 7293, better known as the Helix Nebula, is one of the closest and most spectacular planetary nebulae observable from Earth. It is located about 650 light years away in the constellation Aquarius.
The extremely hot core emits intense ultraviolet radiation that ionizes the surrounding gas, causing it to glow with spectacular colors. Billions of years from now, the Sun could meet a similar fate, so nebulae like this offer astronomers a unique opportunity to study the final stages of the evolution of stars similar to the Sun.
Taken with a TS-Optics 14″ ONTC f/5 telescope, 50-nm H-alpha and OIII filters, Optolong L-Pro 2″ and L-Ultimate 2″ filters, Sky-Watcher EQ8 mount, Player One Astronomy Poseidon-MM camera, 1,800 mm f/5, 180 x 300-second H-alpha exposures (15 hours), 120 x 300-second OIII exposures (10 hours), 60 x 300-second Optolong L-Pro 2″ exposures (5 hours), 130 x 300-second Optolong L-Ultimate 2″ exposures (10 hours 50 minutes), 43 hours total exposure.”
Location: Elqui Province, Coquimbo, Chile, 14 September 2025
8points
#23 “Colorful Aurora And Waterfall” By Yifan Cao
Category: Best Newcomer
Description: “Yifan Cao witnessed a major aurora outburst in Iceland, during which the whole sky shone green, red and purple. Goðafoss Waterfall is a famous scenic spot that is strongly linked to Norse mythology.
Taken with a Nikon Z 6III camera, 16 mm f/2.2, ISO 4000, 6-second exposure.”
Location: Goðafoss Waterfall, Þingeyjarsveit, Iceland, 27 February 2025
7points
#24 “Cosmic Neighbors: Beauty And The Beast” By Xinghan Yang
Category: Galaxies
Description: “This image captures a dramatic cosmic pairing: the serene elegance of Bode’s Galaxy (M81, left) alongside the chaotic violence of the Cigar Galaxy (M82, right). Located about 12 million light years from Earth, the gravitational interaction of these two neighbors has shaped their forms. M81 retains its perfect grand design spiral form, a picture of galactic grace. In stark contrast, M82 is a starburst galaxy, reeling from a close encounter with its larger companion. This gravitational disturbance has triggered a furious burst of star formation at its core, blasting out spectacular red filaments of superheated hydrogen gas that are clearly visible in this deep exposure.
Taken with a Sky Rover 155 APO Pro telescope, iOptron CEM70 mount, QHYCCD QHY600M camera, 992 mm f/6.4, 600 seconds per frame, 49 hours total integration.”
Location: Ürümqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, 17, 20, 28, 30 November and 25 December 2025
7points
#25 “Golden Moonrise Over Seattle” By Aj Smadi
Category: People & Space
Description: “This picture reveals the city of Seattle, illuminated at twilight during a summer sunset. Above it, the orange Buck Moon is rising. The color of the Moon reflected in Seattle’s skyline casts a golden light over the entire city, its deep glow adding presence to the image and providing a contrast to the sleek lines of the intricate architecture with its raw and rugged terrain.
Taken with a Canon EOS 6D camera, 600 mm f/7.1, ISO 800, 1/125-second exposure.”
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA, 11 July 2025
7points
#26 “Vortex” By Jennifer Rogers
Category: People & Space
Description: “This image of a star trail aligned with the chimney of the former tin mine Wheal Owles in Cornwall was taken on a cold night in February. Jennifer Rogers took time to position Polaris directly above the chimney in the composition.
Taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera, 14 mm f/2.8, ISO 1600, Foreground: 1 x 60-second exposure; Star trail: 72 x 60-second exposures.”
Location: West Wheal Owles, Cornwall, England, 22 February 2025
7points
#27 “I Hear The Stars” By João Yordanov Serralheiro
Category: Skyscapes
Description: “This image of star trails above the Scallop sculpture on Aldeburgh Beach, Suffolk, had been a long time in the making, as João Yordanov Serralheiro waited for the right night and conditions. It represents the quiet and peaceful feeling of sitting by the sea, listening to the waves come and go as time passes by –demonstrated here by the movement of the stars.
Taken with a Sony Alpha 7 III camera, 35 mm f/2.8, ISO 400, 120 x 30-second exposures.”
Location: Aldeburgh Beach, Suffolk, England, 30 November 2025
7points
#28 “Mars In 2025” By Tom Williams
Category: Planets, Comets & Asteroids
Description: “This composite image shows several views of Mars after it reached opposition, the point at which Earth was directly between Mars and the Sun. All the images were captured at the same scale, highlighting how quickly the planet decreases in apparent size as it recedes from Earth. Seasonal changes are also visible, with the polar ice cap shrinking as the planet’s northern hemisphere enters local spring/summer.
Taken with a custom 600 mm (24″) Dobsonian reflector, UV/IR cut filter, Player-One Astronomy Uranus-C camera, 10,500 mm f/17.5, multiple 10-millisecond exposures.”
Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, 3 January, 16, 25 February, 15, 22 March, 13 and 27 April 2025
6points
#29 “Suspended Plasma” By Maria Cogo
Category: Our Sun
Description: “The solar limb, presented in inverted tones and enhanced color, reveals a filaprom [filament-prominence] that rises like an arc of fire shaped by invisible magnetic forces. Nearby, a filament winds across the luminous surface, cutting through the incandescent plasma. The tonal inversion heightens the contrast and creates a vivid sense of three-dimensionality, revealing the dynamic nature of our star.
Taken with a home-built refractor, iStar Optical H-alpha 150 mm f/10 lens, Solar Spectrum 0.5A° H-alpha filter, Lunt 40 and Baader TZ-4 telecentric system, Astro-Physics 1200GTO mount, Player One Astronomy Apollo M-Max camera, 6,000 mm f/40, 33 x 10.6-millisecond exposures.”
Location: Monticello Conte Otto, Vicenza, Italy, 15 May 2025
5points