Five Stunning Space Photos That Could Win the Prestigious Astronomy Award of the Year

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has announced the top 16 space photos to possibly win the Astronomy Photographer of the Year. The photos will surely transport anyone across the cosmos, from the stunning comet NEOWISE to the spectacular views of nebulae.

According to Gizmodo, this is the Royal Observatory Greenwich's 13th year of running the annual contest in collaboration with BBC Sky at Night Magazine. The winner of the competition will be announced on September 16 this year during a special online ceremony.

The winning photograph will also be displayed at the National Maritime Museum, alongside other exceptional images. For now, here are five of those stunning images of space.

Comet NEOWISE Over the Stonehenge

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) graced the Earth on the early skies of July last year and has become clearer and clearer each night. It came closest to the planet on July 23, according to EarthSky. The above photo was taken by James Rushforth when comet NEOWISE passed above Stonehenge in the UK, a place that did not exist yet when the comet first graced the planet about 6,800 years ago. Stonehenge was only built around 5,000 years ago.

Veil Nebula Complex

According to NASA, the Veil Nebula lies around 2,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. It is the visible portion of the nearby Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant that is roughly 10,000 years old after a massive star that is 20 times bigger than the Sun had died off. Despite the violent cataclysmic release of energy, shockwaves from the supernova have created the astronomical beauty of Veil Nebula's tracery of ionized gas.

The image above was taken by Péter Feltóti from Hungary using a camera mounted to a SkyWatcher Newton telescope, capturing a bicolor image of the nebula.

Dolphin Head Nebula

The imperfect cosmic bubble shaped like a dolphin's head is about 4,530 light-years away from Earth and is 60 light-years across, according to Telescope Live. This incredible bubble is carved by interstellar winds and other cosmic forces with a bright star at the center, known as the Wolf-Rayet star. The image above is captured by Yovin Yahathugoda from Sri Lanka using a camera mounted to an ASA 500N telescope.

Pleiades (Seven Sisters)

The Pleiades star cluster is also known as the Seven Sisters or M45, according to EarthSky. It is visible from virtually every part of the world and can be seen as far north as the North Pole and as far south as South America. The star cluster is also the inspiration for the logo of the car company Subaru.

The photo above was captured by the 14-year-old photographer Singh Dingra from India using the telescope Takahashi FSQ-85ED, and total time exposure of three hours and two minutes.

Messier 57 (The Rose)

Messier 57 (M57) is a planetary nebula that has glowing remains of a sun-like star. According to NASA, the tiny white dot at the center of the M57 is the star's hot core, called the white dwarf.

Although it is also known as the Ring Nebula, the photograph above shows a rose-like formation as the M57 nebula is shown in infrared. Hydrogen is visible in red, while oxygen is green and blue, and nitrogen is deep red. The picture was taken by Joseph Drudis using a camera mounted to a Planewave CDK24 telescope.

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