Sana Noor Haq, CNN
The star-studded Milky Way above a US coastline, pink and purple clouds overlooking Argentina and a reflection of the northern lights in the still waters of a lake in Canada are some of the moments captured by shortlisted entrants to the 2022 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.
More than 3,000 amateur and professional photographers from 67 countries entered the 14th edition of the competition, which is organized by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London.
Some entrants explored the impact of pollution on astrophotography.
Skyscapes category nominee Sean Goebel could only photograph the alignment of the moon over the Los Angeles skyline after a winter storm diffused pollution fog and made the scene more visible, organizers said in a press release.
Meanwhile, Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year nominee Zezhen Zhou snapped an image of Pickering’s Triangle, which is part of the Veil Nebula in the Cygnus constellation, despite the light pollution in the city of Shaoxing, China.
“It was really satisfying to see how many entrants challenged themselves to capture unusual, rarely-imaged or transient events: there are some things you won’t have seen before, and even some things that won’t be seen again,” Ed Bloomer, astronomer at the Royal Observatory and judge for the competition, told CNN in a statement.
The winning images will be announced on September 15 at an online award ceremony and displayed at London’s National Maritime Museum.
There were 36 photos shortlisted in 11 categories, with a selection of images featured in the gallery above.
The-CNN-Wire
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