Brilliant image of the solar eclipse wins the 2024 Astronomy Photographer of the Year – Colossal

an abstract image of the sun with glowing rings that appear to grow from the right side

October 14, 2023 marked the annual solar eclipse in the US. For photographer Ryan Imperio, the event also heralded a rare opportunity to document the eclipse’s progress. Baily’s Beads.

Baily’s beads appear as glittering rings and are created when the sun shines through the valleys and craters on the moon’s surface, allowing light to leak through the mass eclipse. Imperio documented the perfect half-rings from a spot in Odessa, Texas, stitching together about thirty images into a brilliant, repetitive composite that won him the prize Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024.

pink and purple bursts appear above a wide-angle shot of mountains
Tom Rae (New Zealand), “Tasman Gems”

“What an innovative way to map the topography of the moon at the point of third contact during an annular solar eclipse,” said Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn, who judged the competition. “This is an impressive dissection of the fleeting few seconds during the visibility of the Baily’s beads”

The competition, run annually by Royal Museums Greenwich, attracted more than 3,500 entries this year from photographers from 58 countries. From the bright green Aurora Borealis dancing above an Icelandic mountain to the International Space Station moving past the sun, the winning images provide a humbling and awe-inspiring look at the vast galaxies and remarkable phenomena in our universe and beyond.

If you’re in London, check out this year’s top photos at the National Maritime Museum. Otherwise, find our favorites below.

bright green lights shoot above a mountain with a stream in the foreground
Filip Hrebenda (Slovakia), “The Green Kingdom”
a swirling pink and blue galaxy in a black starry sky
Sophie Paulin, Jens Unger and Jakob Sahner (Germany), “M63, the tidal currents around the Sunflower Galaxy”
a bright pink light illuminates a blue sky above a nighttime cityscape
Michael Steven Harris (UK), “Aurora Borealis over the Brighton coast”
Streaks of light cross the night sky above an illuminated elevator building in Montana
Matt Jackson (US), “Big Brother is watching you”
a horizontal line bisects an abstract image with white lines that appear to be drawn downwards and upwards
Peter Ward (Australia), “Coronal Chronograph”
it iss flies before the sun that cracks and ripples
Tom Williams (UK), “High-tech silhouette”
bright blue tides wash up on a beach with a starry sky in the distance
Petr Horalek (Czech Republic), “Like Blue Lava”
a translucent blue ball in a red and blue starry sky
Xin Feng and Miao Gong (China), “SH2-308: Dolphin Head Nebula”

Source link

See also  NASA Declares The Solar Maximum Is Happening Now : ScienceAlert