Ali Alobaidly claimed the overall title in the 18th edition of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition with an image titled The Quiet Predator, capturing the dark absorption of the Shark Nebula from Kuwait. The Royal Observatory Greenwich organized the contest, which drew nearly 4,000 global entries.
The universe continues to reveal its most dramatic architecture through long exposures, precise framing, and rare celestial alignments. The Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards, organized by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, announced its latest competition winners from a pool of nearly 4,000 entries submitted by photographers worldwide. The winning images range from expanding supernova remnants in distant constellations to high-resolution captures of our own solar system, offering a detailed look at cosmic dynamics.
The Quiet Predator Claims the Top Prize
The competition’s highest honor went to Ali Alobaidly for The Quiet Predator
, an astrophotography piece focusing on the Shark Nebula. Judges praised the technical execution and the stark visual contrast present in the frame.
Sometimes a photograph comes alive through its flawless presentation, pin-sharp details and dynamic contrast of light and dark. This is such an image.
Steve Marsh, competition judge, via Gizmodo
Marsh noted that the Shark Nebula is already a striking cosmic cloud of interstellar gas and dust, but the winning photograph resolves detail-rich distant galaxies visible directly through the nebula’s dark patches.
The overall winning photo was captured by Ali Alobaidly from Kuwait.
Category Winners Capture Solar Detail and Stellar Remnants
Beyond the overall winner, the judging panel selected category victors and special award recipients, each taking home prizes. All winning photographs will be displayed publicly at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
In the stars and nebula category, photographer Cédric Humbert captured Abell 85, a faint supernova remnant located approximately 9,780 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. The expanding shell of gas left behind by a dead star required 30 hours of exposure to highlight the doubly ionized oxygen signal and reveal the intricate filaments at its center. Meanwhile, Peter Ward secured a runner-up spot by imaging the Sun’s chromosphere, capturing calcium-H structures shimmering in electric lilac alongside hydrogen-alpha filaments.
Atmospheric events also earned recognition. Radoslav Sviretsov photographed a strong geomagnetic storm framing the Northern Lights against a small church in Fúlipollur, Iceland. Capturing transient planetary movements, Petr Horalek documented a daytime lunar occultation on September 19, 2025, when the Moon crossed directly in front of Venus.
The most beautiful moment was when Venus had just started to disappear behind the crescent. It looked like a bright pearl on the lunar limb.
Petr Horalek, photographer, via Gizmodo
Deep Space Network Expands Ground Infrastructure
While ground-based astrophotographers turn their lenses toward distant nebulae, institutional arrays are similarly expanding their reach. NASA announced the completion and integration of DSS-23, a next-generation beam waveguide antenna added to the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex in California. Construction on the 133-ton metal reflector framework began in February 2020, with structural assembly reaching a milestone when the framework was bolted atop the antenna pedestal in December 2024.
The new asset joins three 34-meter antennas and one 70-meter antenna at Goldstone, complementing similar complexes in Madrid and Canberra, Australia. Multifrequency beam waveguide technology routes signals down to a stable, climate-controlled underground room rather than mounting sensitive electronic components directly on the moving dish, facilitating maintenance.
The biggest challenge wasn’t actually constructing the antenna. It was transforming a complex collection of mechanical, electrical, software, radio frequency, and infrastructure systems into a single, mission-ready asset.
Germaine Aziz, manager of the Deep Space Network Aperture Enhancement Project at JPL
With calibration efforts underway, network directors emphasize that the addition primes the decades-old communication framework for future interplanetary missions. As space photography captures the dynamic motion of distant galaxies, ground arrays like DSS-23 work to maintain the continuous data pipelines required to study them.