The Royal Observatory Greenwich has announced the winners of Astronomical Photographer of the Year for 2022, the 14th edition of the competition. This year’s winning image is a photo of Comet Leonard, a subject never to be seen again from Earth.
The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, supported by Liberty Specialty Markets and in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine. In 2022, the competition received more than 3,000 entries from 67 countries around the world.
The competition has 11 categories and this year’s overall winner was selected in the Planets, Comets and Asteroids category, of which he was also named the winner. Taken by Austrian photographer Gerald Rhemann, the photo (above) is titled Disconnection Event and depicts a rare case of a piece of Comet Leonard’s gas tail becoming disconnected and blown away by the solar wind.
It was captured on Christmas Day in 2021 and was the brightest comet of the year. However, he will never be seen from Earth again, which makes his photo all the more remarkable.
“This award is one of the highlights of my astrophotography work. All the effort to make this image a success was worth it,” says Rhemann.
All winning photos, together with information about the exhibition of these images in London, are available on the Astronomy Photographer of the Year website.
Below are the other winning images in all 11 categories.
Planets, comets and asteroids
Dawn
Galaxies
Our Moon
people and space
Celestial landscapes
Stars and nebulae
our sun
The Annie Maunder Award for Digital Innovation
The Sir Patrick Moore Award for Best Newcomer
Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Picture credits: All photos are individually credited and provided courtesy of Royal Observatory Greenwich 14 Year Astronomy Photographer of the Year.