The winning entries f rom Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2023

GALAXIES & OVERALL WINNER

‘Unexpected’ Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty

“The Andromeda galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way and one of the most photographed deep-sky objects,” the judges note. “Yet this particular photo, captured by an international trio of amateur astronomers –Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty –revealed a feature that had never been seen before: a huge plasma arc, stretching out across space right next to the Andromeda galaxy.”

Mars-Set © Ethan Chappel

WINNER: OUR MOON

‘Mars-set’

Ethan Chappel “The occultation of Mars by the Moon was one of the last and greatest celestial events of 2022 and it was also one of the most challenging to image. To capture the level of detail on Mars that you see here takes a huge amount of skill and practice. Combined with a crisp, clear and perfectly processed lunar limb, the result is like taking a gigantic telephoto lens into lunar orbit itself. This image is a technical marvel and a real treat to look at –two factors that make it a worthy winner in this category.”