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There was once an Astronomy Song of the Year award for the best song about stars, but after Simply Red released ‘Stars’ in 1991 they retired the competition, knowing that Mick Hucknall’s masterpiece would never be beaten. But the prize for best photo of stars, Astronomy Photography of the Year, that’s still going strong to this very day, and this year’s shortlist has just been announced.
Filled with images of ‘the Milky Way rising, galaxies colliding, stellar nurseries, the luminous Aurora Borealis dancing across the night’s sky and Saturn balanced by its moons’, this year’s images are a stellar trip around the cosmos. There are various categories, including ‘Skyscapes’, ‘Aurorae’, ‘People and Space’, ‘Our Sun’, ‘Our Moon’, and ‘Planets, Comets and Asteroids’ showing that astronomy photography is more than just twinkly lights and big telescopes.
A recurring theme in this year’s selection is pollution, both of the air and light variety, with haze and smog and human interference interfering with our vision of the night sky.
The winning images will go on display at the National Maritime Museum on September 17, and in the meantime the shortlist can be viewed here. It’s enough to make you want to fall from the stars, I hope you comprehend.
The Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist is right here.
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