Over the coming weeks we will feature, in no particular order, each of the final 16 selected images and winners will be announced by Royal Museums Greenwich on 17 September. The winning images are to be showcased at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in an exhibition opening 18 September.
To preserve the sense of the Moon caught at exactly at half phase, Hungarian astrophotographer András Papp carefully balanced multiple images of the darkened hemisphere, terminator and illuminated face of the Moon, all recorded on the same night — winning image of the Our Moon category in the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2015.
Nomination number seven from the prestigious Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, an annual celebration of the most beautiful and spectacular visions of the cosmos by astrophotographers worldwide. The 2015 competition received 2700 spectacular entries from over 60 countries and the winners will be announced 17 September.
This picture of Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy was taken from Market Harborough, Leicestershire by 15-year-old George Martin on 18 December 2014 using his new 8-inch f/5 Newtonian telescope and a Nikon D3200 camera — winning image of the Young Competition category in the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2015.