Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner and Yann Sainty are the winners of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year from the Royal Observatory Greenwich for their photo Andromeda, Unexpected, which captures a surprising discovery: a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy (M31).
Scientists are now investigating the gigantic object in a transnational collaboration. It could be the largest structure in the universe closest to us. The image can be seen together with the winners of the other categories in the accompanying exhibition, which opens on Saturday 16 September 2023 at the National Maritime Museum in London.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. It is without a doubt one of the most photographed deep sky objects ever. The discovery of such a large structure in the immediate vicinity of the Milky Way was all the more surprising.
The arc has a size of about 1.5 x 0.45 degrees, is located only 1.2 degrees from the center of M31 and is located southeast of the main body of the Milky Way.
"A photo of such a discovery normally looks like a blurry black and white image that shows an almost invisible faint spot or a spectrum that is incomprehensible to us. This time, however, that was not the case. This astrophoto is as spectacular as it is valuable. It not only presents Andromeda in a new way, but also takes the quality of astrophotography to a new level." – László Francsics
The award Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year was won by two fourteen-year-old boys from China. Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang worked together on The Running Chicken Nebula, which they captured. Yuri Beletsky, judge and professional astronomer, described it as a "strikingly beautiful image."
The Running Chicken Nebula, IC2944, is located in the constellation Centaurus, 6000 light-years away from Earth. Embedded in the nebula's glowing gas, the star cluster Collinder 249 is visible.
Other winning images are Circle of Light by Andreas Ettl, showing the northern lights reflected on the beach of Skagsanden, Norway; The Dark Wolf - Fenrir by James Baguley, which shows a molecular cloud in the shape of a wolf; A Sun Question by Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau, which captures a huge filament in the shape of a question mark; and Grand Cosmic Fireworks by Angel An, a photo of the extremely rare phenomenon of atmospheric luminescence.
Another favorite photo of the jury was New Class of Galactic Nebulae Around the Star YY Hya by Marcel Dreschsler, who won the Stars and Nebulae category. The photo captures a previously unknown galactic nebula containing a pair of stars surrounded by a common envelope, adding another exciting discovery to the winning images.
The Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition is organized by Royal Observatory Greenwich, supported by Liberty Specialty Markets and in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine. The 2023 competition received more than 4,000 entries from 64 countries.
