Earth & Space
Exhibition
Category winners – Earth and Space
This hugely varied category was for photos that included landscape or people. Pictures also had to show an astronomical subject such as the stars, the Moon, or aurora. Tell us what you think about the winners in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year group on Flickr.
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Earth and Space – winner
Star Trails, Blue Mountains by Ted Dobosz (Australia)
A few words from the photographer: ‘I recall clearly the night I grabbed an old film camera and placed it on a tripod and, using a cable release, I was able to keep the shutter open for a few minutes. Imagine my delight and surprise when a myriad of star streaks appeared in my pictures! Today that delight is still there whenever I again decide to try my hand at the most basic form of astrophotography, simple star trails from a long exposure. Anyone with a camera can do it: try it and enjoy the beauty of the night sky!’
What’s in the picture: As the Earth spins during the 30-minute exposure of this photograph the stars make trails around the sky’s South Pole. The orange glow at the bottom of the photograph is caused by ‘light pollution’ from streetlights and other artificial illumination. A similar picture taken in the northern hemisphere would show Polaris (the Pole Star) apparently unmoving at the centre of the star trails. In the southern hemisphere there is no equivalent to the Pole Star but instead the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two companion galaxies to the Milky Way, are visible.
Equipment: Canon 40D DSLR camera; Tamron 17-mm lens at f/3.5; 30-minute exposure
What competition judge Chris Lintott thought: ‘It is the ghostly images of the Milky Way’s two companion galaxies that make this image something very special. The trees give a sense of being rooted on Earth as the heavens turn above you.’
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Earth and Space – runner-up
Venus, Jupiter and Moon trails over the Nepean River by Vincent Miu (Australia)
A few words from the photographer: ‘The concept of long exposures was inspired by a similar image I saw in a book many years ago. I was desperately scouting for a location with an unobstructed view towards the west. Finally, I settled for this spot along the river bank before it got too dark. I was setting up my tripod while others were packing up their fishing gear.’
What’s in the picture: This orientation of the Moon (left), Venus (centre) and Jupiter (right) is rarely photographed. Taken with an exposure of two hours, the photograph shows the trail of the three bodies in the sky at sunset. Venus and Jupiter are five of the planets which are visible at various times with the naked eye from Earth, the others being Mercury, Mars and Saturn.
Equipment: Canon 400D DSLR camera; EF–S17 85-mm IS USM lens; ISO 400; exposure range from 6 seconds to 2 hours
What competition judge Graham Southorn thought: ‘I like the fact that these planets and the Moon are part of our family in the Solar System. It shows a real sense of movement – the dance of the planets.’
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Earth and Space – highly-commended
Milky Way by Nik Szymanek (UK)
A few words from the photographer: ‘The night sky is full of mystery and romance and it’s brought to life by long-exposure astrophotography. This picture was planned very carefully. The planning certainly paid off as the picture came out exactly as intended and captures the evocative view of our home galaxy seen from the inside!’
What’s in the picture: The Milky Way Galaxy is a collection of over 200 billion stars, together with clouds of dust and gas. It is a flat disc-like structure more than 100,000 light years across. Our own sun is just one of the billions of stars situated within this disc; so when we look out into space we see the Milky Way as a band of bright stars and dark dust encircling the sky. This photograph was taken from La Palma in the Canary Islands: the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory can be seen on the right.
Equipment: Canon 20D DSLR camera; Canon 28-mm lens; eight 3-minute sub-exposures combined into a mosaic
What competition judge Chris Lintott thought: ‘The highlights of my career as an astronomer have been visits to observatories, the dark places of the Earth. This shot perfectly captures the feeling of being there – a barren, remote place dwarfed by the sky above.’
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Earth and Space – highly-commended
Bow of Orion by Karl Johnston (Canada)
A few words from the photographer: ‘I always loved viewing the majestic aurora borealis, and I would always wonder why it would only be me out there watching them on the cold nights growing up in Fort Smith, NWT, Canada. Every night I would go for miles and miles to escape the light pollution, into the sub-arctic wilderness. Trudging through three-and-a-half-foot snow and -40°C weather or below to eventually stop, look up, and attempt to orchestrate the dance of the aurora borealis through my camera.’
What's in the picture: The auroras or Northern and Southern Lights are caused by the interaction between the Earth’s atmosphere and a stream of particles from the Sun known as the Solar Wind. The Earth’s magnetic field funnels these particles down over the planet’s poles, giving rise to ‘glowing curtains’ of coloured light which are best seen in the night sky.
Equipment: Canon 50D DSLR camera; Tokina - 11–16-mm lens; ISO 800; 20-second exposure
What competition judge Dan Holdsworth thought: ‘Through careful composition which creates a rhythm and symmetry between the veils of movement in the aurora’s light and the silhouetted shapes of the trees, the photograph ‘Bow of Orion’ beautifully expresses something of the strangely musical and trance-like quality within the nature of the auroral experience.’
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Earth and Space – highly-commended
Death Valley Star Trails by Nikhil Shahi (USA)
A few words from the photographer: ‘While camping in Joshua Tree a few months ago, I saw how bright the stars appeared in a place far away from civilization. Since I first visited Death Valley, I wanted to capture the stark beauty of Zabriskie Point at night. This shot was taken around 3 a.m. on a cold winter morning facilitated with endless cups of hot coffee!’
What’s in the picture: Although this photograph appears to show a dramatic shower of meteors in the night sky, it is actually a 40-minute exposure of the trails made by the stars as the Earth rotates. The three parallel lines near to the horizon on the left of the photograph are the trails of the stars that make up Orion’s Belt.
Equipment: Nikon D700 DSLR camera; Nikon 24–70-mm lens at 24mm; ISO 200; 40-minute exposure
What competition judge Marek Kukula thought: ‘I really like the subtle colours in this image and the way the star trails appear to line up with the rock strata on the ground.’
