The winners of Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2023 have been announced. Astronomer and competition judge Edward Bloomer discussed his personal highlights and showcased some of the winning and shortlisted entries for this year\u2019s competition, organised by the Royal Observatory in London. \u201cThe universe itself is the astrophotographer\u2019s playground,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s winner \u2013 a deep-space photograph of the Andromeda galaxy by Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty wasn\u2019t only an aesthetically stunning image, says Bloomer, but showed a previously unseen region of ionised oxygen. \u201cWe don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going on there,\u201d he says, \u201cbut we can sort of characterise it in a way now. We\u2019re now in the process of investigating that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition is now open at the National Maritime Museum, London.<\/p>\n