Eclipse Totality over Sassendalen © Luc Jamet (France) — WINNER & OVERALL WINNER
Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2015 winners were announced on Sept. 18, 2015. In the top spot overall is Luc Jamet (France), who captured the total solar eclipse of March 20, 2015, from Svalbard, Norway — one of only two habitable locations able to witness totality — just 16 seconds after it began.
AURORAE: Silk Skies © Jamen Percy (Australia) — WINNER
Jamen Percy (Australia) spent many hours in Abisko National Park in Lapland to get this shot of an aurora.
GALAXIES: M33 Core © Michael van Doorn (Netherlands) — WINNER
Michael van Doorn (Netherlands) produced this image of M33, AKA the Triangulum Galaxy, which lies approximately 3 million light years away. It is the third largest member of the Local Group of galaxies after Andromeda Galaxy and our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
OUR MOON: Full Face of Our Moon © András Papp (Hungary) — WINNER
András Papp (Hungary) captured an image of Earth’s natural satellite with the lunar terminator — the division between light and dark — cutting almost exactly through the center of the moon.
OUR SUN: Huge Prominence Lift-off © Paolo Porcellana (Italy) — WINNER
Paolo Porcellana (Italy) submitted a shot of a massive hot loop of plasma radiating from the edge of the sun in a solar prominence. The photographer has captured this prominence extending to the sun's corona, the aura of the plasma surrounding the sun.
PEOPLE & SPACE: Sunset Peak Star Trail © Chap Him Wong (Hong Kong) — WINNER
Chap Him Wong (Hong Kong) produced a picture of campers sheltering from the wind behind stone cottages looking up to Sunset Peak, the third highest mountain in Hong Kong, 2,851 feet (869 m) tall. Stars appear to trail across the sky, owing to a long exposure taken as the Earth rotates on its axis.
PLANETS, COMETS & ASTEROIDS: The Arrow Missed the Heart © Lefteris Velissaratos (Greece) — WINNER
Lefteris Velissaratos (Greece) caught the Comet C/2014 E2 Jacques travelling just below the famed Heart Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. However, the comet, within our solar system, is much closer to Earth than the nebula which lies 7,500 light years away.
STARS & NEBULAE: The Magnificent Omega Centauri © Ignacio Diaz Bobillo (Argentina) – WINNER
Ignacio Diaz Bobillo (Argentina) created this image of globular cluster Omega Centauri, a dense orb of approximately ten million stars, many of which are redder, cooler and older than our sun.
YOUNG ASTRONOMY PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR: A Celestial Visitor © George Martin (UK — aged 15) — WINNER
15-year-old George Martin caught Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy on Dec. 18, 2014, while it was visible to viewers with the naked eye, an occurrence that won't repeat for another 8000 years.
SIR PATRICK MOORE PRIZE FOR BEST NEWCOMER: Orion DT © David Tolliday (UK)
David Tolliday (UK) produced this image of the Orion Nebula, lying 1,300 light years away from Earth, in Orion’s Sword in the famous Orion constellation. The nebula may stretch about 24 light years across and have a mass 2000 times that of our sun.
ROBOTIC SCOPE: Comet C/2013 A1 alongside Mars © Sebastian Voltmer (Germany)
Sebastian Voltmer (Germany) snapped a close encounter between our neighbor Mars and Comet C/2013 A1, AKA Siding Spring, as it passed through the night sky on Oct. 22, 2014. To obtained Voltmer used the SBIG STL11000M camera at Siding Spring Observatory, Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia.
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