Astronomy Photographer of the Year showcases the world’s best space photography, from spectacular skyscapes to mind-blowing images of distant planets and galaxies.

Every year, photographers from across the globe compete to be part of the final exhibition and take home the prestigious title.

There are separate photography prizes open to adults, young photographers and astrophotography newcomers. A full list of competition categories is below.

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How to Enter

• If you are new to the competition, you’ll need to register and set up a competition account
• The Adult competition is open to anyone aged 16 and over, and the Young competition is open to anyone under 16
• You may submit a total of 10 images
• There will be a £10 fee per entrant. Entrants to the Young Competition and special prizes are exempt

Rules and Catagories

Adult competition categories

• Aurorae: Photographs featuring the northern and southern lights
• Galaxies: Photographs of deep-space objects beyond the Milky Way galaxy, including galaxies, galaxy clusters, and stellar associations
• Our Moon: Photographs of the Moon, including lunar eclipses and the occultation of stars and planets.
• Our Sun: Photographs of the Sun, including solar eclipses and transits.
• People and Space: Photographs of the night sky that include people or elements that show the presence or influence of human beings
• Planets, Comets, and Asteroids: Photographs of objects in our solar system, including planets and their satellites, comets, asteroids, and other forms of zodiacal debris
• Skyscapes: Photographs of landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes in which the night sky or twilight sky is a prominent feature
• Stars and Nebulae: Photographs of deep-space objects in the Milky Way galaxy, including stars, star clusters, supernova remnants, nebulae, and other galactic phenomena

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Young competition

There are no separate categories in the Young competition. The Young competition will have one winner, one runner-up, and three highly commended awards.

Special prizes

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer: For newcomers who have only been practicing astronomy photography since January 2021, are aged 16 or over, and have not entered the competition before.

The Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation: For images processed using pre-existing open-source data. Find out more about this category here.

Prizes

Adult competition

• Winner: £1500
• Runner-up: £500
• Highly commended: £250

Young competition

• £1500 and a Celestron Astromaster 130EQ MD telescope: Young Winner
• £500: Young Runner-up
• £250: Young Highly Commended

Special Prizes

The Manju Mehrotra Family Trust Prize for Best Newcomer and the Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation will receive £750 each.

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Overall winner

The overall winner is chosen from amongst all the Adult competition category winners. This winner receives £10,000 and the title of Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

Additional information

All winners will also receive:

• Their winning image displayed in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum
• One year’s subscription to BBC Sky at Night magazine
• A copy of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year publication.