A space shark, 'royal' auroras and a 'Venusian pearl': See the winners of the 2026 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest

A distant, shark-shaped cloud of gas in space won the top prize in a Royal Observatory Greenwich competition for amateur space photographers. Ali Alobaidly from Kuwait captured the image, aptly named "The Quiet Predator," showcasing the Shark Nebula (LDN 1235) located about 650 light-years away in the Cepheus constellation. The competition, in its 18th year, awarded Alobaidly £10,000 for his photograph, taken over two days in August 2025 using a telescope and camera setup.

Among the other winners, Radoslav Sviretsov from Bulgaria captured stunning auroras, dubbed "The Crown," during a strong northern lights display in Iceland. Petar Horalek from the Czech Republic photographed the "Venusian Pearl on the Moon" during a rare lunar transit of Venus. Miguel Claro from Portugal captured the sun's "Active Region 4122," revealing convection cells and bright spots on the sun's photosphere.

Max Inwood from Aotearoa/New Zealand won for "A Message from the Ancients," featuring petroglyphs in California's desert that may depict the 13 full moons annually.

Tom Williams from the U.K. captured Saturn's "Saturnian Equinox," showcasing the planet's rings edge-on during a near-30-year solar orbit. Stefano Pellegrini from Italy photographed the "Botswana Star Trail" in Botswana's Nxai Pan, featuring large baobab trees and a creatively exposed image. Finally, Chinese astrophotographers Xinran Li and 智鹏严 captured the "NGC 4753: A Symphony of Dust Lanes in Virgo," highlighting the striking network of dust lanes surrounding the galaxy's core.