This year’s Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition received a record 2700 entries by astrophotographers from 59 countries around the world. These astonishing pictures reveal fresh perspectives on astrophotography favourites alongside some of the great astronomical events of the last year.
We will showcase the winning images from all 11 categories over the next few days, but if you wish to see them all together on display, the Royal Observatory Greenwich has an exhibition open 18 September 2015 — 26 June 2016. Hours: 10.00–17.00, entry is free.
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.
Astronomers have found evidence for a complex mechanism that may explain how the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, is driven to such extreme temperatures.
In the first billion years of Earth’s history, the planet was bombarded by primordial asteroids, while a faint Sun provided much less heat. A Southwest Research Institute-led team posits that this tumultuous beginning may have ultimately fostered life on Earth, particularly in terms of sustaining liquid water.
