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It's a striking photograph isn't it? Even more so when you consider what it shows: the Northern Lights shimmering over England's south coast. Michael Steven Harris's glowing photograph is just one of many arresting moments in this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Given that the subject is astronomy, a surprising number of the winning images feature scenes on Earth. Here's another peach:
It's called "Like Bue Lava", but it might as well be called "Like a Scene From Avatar", such is the azure allure of bioluminescent plankton, pictured beneath a starry sky. Astonishing.
The overall winner of the annual competition takes a little more explaining:
What we're looking at is a "sequence of continuously captured images showing the progression of Baily's beads at third contact during the 2023 annular eclipse. Baily's beads are formed when sunlight shines through the valleys and craters of the Moon's surface, breaking the eclipse's well-known ring pattern, and are only visible when the Moon either enters or exits an eclipse." I'm still not entirely sure I've got my head around that, but still impressive.
And it's not the only jaw-dropper. Here are a few further picks from the impressive line-up.
This is the 16th year that Royal Museums Greenwich have hosted the heavenly competition, and this year's show features over 30 stunners. Stellar stuff.
Astronomy Photographer of the Year, National Maritime Museum, from Friday 13 September 2024, free, no pre booking required
