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.
Omega (ω) Centauri, or NGC 5139, is the brightest and largest globular cluster. This showpiece object of the southern sky is captured here in all its glory by astrophotographer Ignacio Diaz Bobillo — winning image of the Stars & Nebulae category in the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2015.
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.
Jamen Percy’s ethereal view of an auroral display over Abisko National Park, Lapland, Sweden was captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera, 24mm f/1.4 lens and a 4-second, ISO 2000 exposure — winning image of the Aurorae category in the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2015.