Chris Lintott’s Universe

January 20th, 2009

Picture yourself as a top astrophotographer?

Posted by chrislintott in Uncategorized

Astronomy’s appeal is inextricably linked to the visual richness of the subject, but it’s not just images from professional observatories that take our breath away. Astrophotography with amateur telescopes is thriving like never before, as more and more people experiment with digital cameras, webcams and all the rest. We know from the Sky at Night just how good the quality of many of these images is – every programme is scattered with contributions from all over the world, but it’s about time those who enrich our view of the sky got a little more attention.

BBC Sky at Night magazine in combination with the Royal Observatory Greenwich are proud to announce the launch of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. It’s open to anyone – anywhere in the world – capable of taking a picture of the sky and will be judged by an expert panel, and myself. The shortlisted photographs will be professionally printed and displayed in an exhibition at the Royal Observatory itself – an honour for any astronomer.

We hope this annual competition will grow to become as important an event as the Wildlife photographer of the year, but that can only happen if you submit your images.

To enter (or to view the competition!), go to the official website here. I’m looking forward to sorting through the results in August.

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Alice Sheppard said,

on January 20th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

How thrilling!

I have let our zooite astrophotographers know – we have a wonderful gallery on the forum here: http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=270643.0

I hope thousands of pictures get sent in. And I do wish I could find my camera!
Graeme said,

on February 12th, 2009 at 10:47 am

I’d love to spend more time with astrophotography, indeed it was only a month or two ago that I last tried which result in a shortish rant (for me) on light pollution http://www.graeme-skinner.co.uk/wordpress/?p=43 I think we need a map of the UK that shows good astrophotography sites I will follow the competition with interest, it’s always good to get inspiration now and then from others work.