Competition astrokrasoty Bashny.Net

Amateur astronomers and professional astrophotography can get worldwide fame thanks to his magic photographs

After receiving a record 1700 entries for the annual competition "Astronomy Picture of the Year" Royal Observatory has finally announced the winners. Without a doubt, this is only a small part of all the impressive space photos, got to the competition.





1. Northern lights over the frozen lagoon, James Woodend, UK

The winner in the category "Earth and space»

Pale green glow of the aurora borealis occurs from exposure to oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere of subatomic particles ejected by the Sun. These particles are attracted to the north and south poles of the magnetic field of the Earth, and that is why this light show is so often observed in the frozen landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic. The photographer managed to catch the thin ice color of earth, water and sky.



2. Star tracks over wind farm, Matt James, Australia

Second place in the category "Earth and space»

This monochrome composition with high quality graphics. It demonstrates the power of the wind with the apparent motion of the sky, the earth's rotation turns the track motion of stars in a real downpour. One of the wind turbines, unlike the others, remains immovable. Its clearly distinguishable from the rest of the blade stand, similar to the dandelion.



3. Lunar Ball, Patrick Cullis, USA

This was praised photo was taken from high-altitude balloons, launched in Boulder, at an altitude of 26,500 feet a little west of Denver, Colorado. The moon became visible only when the balloon passed through the bright haze of the atmosphere and entered the rarefied air of the stratosphere.



4. Venus - The Moon, Oh Chul Kwon, South Korea

Photography was praised in the "Earth and space»

Using high dynamic range (HDR) photographer counterbalance the brightness of the rising moon and Venus are much more distant, to show us what happens when they are in the same position in the sky. Venus is hidden from us our closest cosmic neighbor, but becomes visible in less than an hour. The photo shows a relatively rapid apparent motion of the Moon around the Earth, one of its orbit around the planet in 27th, 3 days. This impressive interaction of the Moon and Venus can be seen from some places on Earth several times a year, but it takes careful planning to take his picture.



5. Eclipse over the clouds, Katalin baldeem Romania

Another highly otsenёnnoe photo

The total solar eclipse - is one of the most beautiful sights of nature, therefore, not surprising that many people are willing to go to great lengths to see at least one. On Earth during a total eclipse, when the Moon completely obscures the Sun, only lasts a few minutes. But bad weather can destroy your chances of seeing it. Here you might find the plane: You can fly above the clouds and chase the shadow of the moon, holding its way around the Earth.



6. ripples on a pond, Alexander Hart, UK

The winner in the category "Our Solar System»

Boiling surface of the Sun, located somewhere far below us, imprinted on this unforgettable picture conveys the full extent and brutality of our parent star. Area of ​​solar activity on the left can repeatedly swallow the whole earth, and there still remains a place. Photographer successfully compared this phenomenon with throwing a stone in a pond: the outer layers of the Sun really behave like liquid that constantly twist and distort the intense magnetic force.



7. Best of craters, George Tarsodis Greece

Second place in the "Our Solar System»

The word "crater" was put into use in the XVII-th century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. He brought him out of the ancient Greek term «krater», denoting a vessel for mixing wine and water. Resulting from meteorite impacts over more than a billion years, these bowl-shaped lunar depressions usually named after the scientists, artists and explorers. The peak in the center of the crater, there was probably when the breed jumped up the crater after its formation.



8. The eruption of calcium to Stephen Ramsden, USA

High score in the "Our Solar System". The length of the solar emission of 1, 3 million miles.

"Calcium K" refers to a specific wavelength of violet light emitted by calcium ions in extreme conditions, such as the solar atmosphere. Astronomers can get evidence of extreme events such as this enormous emission from the surface of the Sun, only upon receipt of the images in a very narrow range of colors.



9. A diamond and rubies, Tunsh Tezel, Turkey

High score in the "Our Solar System»

Many features of the sun becomes visible only during a total solar eclipse, when the Moon blocks the bright solar disk. In the photo we see the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, as a white mist. Closest to the surface atmospheric layer of the Sun, known as the chromosphere, appears here in the red glow of hydrogen. Photographer caught the moment when a tiny part of the solar disc shines between the mountains on the edge of the moon, creating an effect called "diamond ring".



10. Horsehead Nebula, Bill Snyder, USA

The winner of the "Deep Space»

Horsehead Nebula - is one of the most popular sites for filming in the night sky, but this picture presents it in a completely new light. Instead of focusing solely on the dark silhouette of the nebula, the photographer pays attention to like a folded cloth folds landscape of gas and dust in its grounds funnel tends to a bright star. This image expands our vision and gives a new view of a familiar celestial objects.



11. Helix Nebula, David Fitz-Henry, Australia

Second place in the "Open Space»

Helix Nebula, like huge eyes looking at us across 700 light years of space, it is one of the closest planetary nebulae to Earth, and the most studied of these. In this image, a glowing gas that makes up the nebula visible small details such as like tadpoles "cometary knots", which seems to move from the inner to the outer ring. The "head" of each such node in size roughly comparable to our solar system.



12. California against the Pleiades, Rogelio Bernal Andreo, USA

High score in the "Open Space»

Pleiades cluster in the right part of this image, is known as the Seven Sisters, actually includes about a thousand stars that were formed about 100 million years ago. Pleiades - a perennial favorite of amateur astronomers and astrophotographers, but this unusual photograph shows accumulation in the broader context of its local environment, drifting through the chaotic region of dark dust. California Nebula, so named in honor of the US state - is a cloud of glowing hydrogen gas in the left part of the photo.



13. Detail of the Veil Nebula, Jay-P. Metsavanio Finland

High score in the "Open Space»

Angular forms and bright color palette convey violent origin of the gas structure - this is what's left of a star that exploded more than 5000 years ago. Smear is still expanding, and now occupies the entire nebula is 36 times larger in area than the full Moon.



14. At the feet of Orion, Marco Lorenzi, Italy

High score in the "Open Space»

These photographs remind us that our galaxy is much more likely than it seems at first glance, and that the space between the stars is rarely empty. Extremely long 18-hour endurance allows you to see billowing clouds of dust and gas, which are usually located in the shadow of their more famous neighbor to the top of the picture - the dazzling heart of Orion. Scattered bright blue stars illuminate the dust, allowing us to see the full picture.



15. Horsehead Nebula, Shishir and Shashank Dolakov - 15 years, United States

The winners of the contest "Young astro year»

This is an excellent photo Horsehead Nebula. It clearly shows the famous red glow on the background of a horse's head - is light, hydrogen gas, ionized neighboring stars. Image emphasizes the highly concentrated cloud of dust in the silhouette of a horse head. It is silhouetted against the red glow because nebula blocks the path of light rays that are trying to break through it.



16. Coastal stairs, Chris Murphy, New Zealand

Award winner Sir Patrick Moore for best debut

It seems that this gloomy scene seeks to convey a message of "deep time", as each layer of rocks that are in the foreground - a record for thousands of years of geological history. Meanwhile, in the sky, time and space are inextricably intertwined, as starlight take decades, centuries or even millennia to get through to us through a huge chasm of space.



17. The hybrid solar eclipse 2, Eugene Kamenev, Germany

The winner of the "People and Space»

This is a rare example of a hybrid solar eclipse began at dawn over the western Atlantic, where the moon does not completely obscures the sun, leaving a bright ring of light around. When the Moon's shadow moved across the ocean to the east, the eclipse was complete, and the sun was not visible at all. By the time when the eclipse reached Kenya, the sun came out again because of the moon, having a crescent shape at sunset.



18. NGC 3718, Mark Hanson, US

Winner in the category of automated telescopes

Comment photographer:
"This picture is NGC 3718 was made in a research observatory Doc Greiner, one of several remote observatories, located at Rancho Hidalgo, New Mexico. Data collection lasted two full brightness at night excellent visibility. The program "Aladin Sky Atlas" counted in this photo over 5,000 galaxies ».
About NGC:
"This is a barred spiral galaxy found in the constellation Ursa Major. Gravitational interactions with its nearest neighbor, NGC 3729 (spiral galaxy to the left and below) are likely to cause significant curvature of the spiral arms of the galaxy, while the dark band of dust envelops its center ».

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