Not all of us have a billionaire brother who can let us hitch a ride into space, so we rely on talented photographers to give us a glimpse into the beyond.
London’s Royal Museums Greenwich has unveiled the finalists for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021. The astrophotography competition, which has been running for 13 years, received over 4,500 entries taken from 75 countries.
Below, you’ll find a collection of the incredible finalists, with the full shortlist available on the RMG website. The winners will be announced Sept. 16 before an exhibition of the images opens at London’s National Maritime Museum from Sept. 18.
Hubble celebrates the Fourth of July with a gorgeous cosmic fireworks show
From magical views of the Milky Way over French lavender fields to a truly hardcore looking sunspot, this year’s finalists literally light up the skies and space around our planet. There are nine categories including skyscapes, aurorae, people and space, our sun, our moon, stars and nebulae, galaxies, and planets, comets, and asteroids.
If you’re keen for more otherworldly looks into the stars, here are last year’s winners.
Credit:
Credit: Stefan Liebermann
Credit: Anthony Sullivan
Credit: Péter Feltóti
Credit: Kush Chandari
Credit: Yovin Yahathugoda
Credit: Steven Mohr
Credit: Cielaustral team
Credit: Siu Fone Tang
Credit: Wang Zheng
Credit: Markus van Hauten
Credit: Antoni Cladera Barceló
Credit: Steven Mohr
Credit: Zhang Xiao
Credit: Yang Sutie
Credit: Jashanpreet Singh Dingra
Credit: Gerald Rhemann
Credit: Anna Dobrovolskaya-Mints
Credit: Masoud Ghadiri
Credit: Benjamin Barakat
Credit: Ivan Vucetic
Credit: Hassan Hatami
Credit: Josep Drudis
Credit: Andrew McCarthy
Credit: Jiajun Hua
Source : 25 ethereal astronomy photos that literally light up the skies