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ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS!

Many thanks to all who have entered the ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2024 competition.

This year came as a bit of a challenge to our team as we navigated the sudden and unfortunate passing of our friend and judge, Alyn Wallace and some technical issues. We acknowledge and appreciate the patience shown from our entrants and community with getting the results to you and this year saw a record number of entries with the standard being incredibly high as always.

Many congratulations to all our winners. We will be contacting you over the next few weeks to organise prizes and awards.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The PEOPLE’S CHOICE award will be judged by you – a gallery of photos is available for you to select your favourite photo. This will be open for one month and we’ll announce the winner at the end.

VOTE HERE

SKY-WATCHER AUSTRALIA ASTROPHOTOGRAPER OF THE YEAR 2024

As judged by the Sky-Watcher Australia Team

PRIZE:

Sky-Watcher ESPRIT 100mm, Valued at $4599 AUD

wv solar

WILLIAM VRBASSO – TOTALITY

William Vrbasso is a celebrated astrophotographer known for his stunning images of the night sky and deep space. William’s images have earned widespread recognition, inspiring others to appreciate the beauty of the cosmos.

Image details:

Two years in the planning, 1,700km by car to get there, and many adventures along the way – all came down to 60 seconds of terror and awe!

Image taken using the Esprit 120

JUDGES COMMENT:

The Sky-Watcher Australia team selected William Vrbasso’s “Totality” image as the overall winner for its remarkable capture of a solar eclipse in pristine detail and stunning composition. The image impressed the judges with its technical excellence, as well as its artistry in portraying this rare astronomical event in a way that is both awe-inspiring and visually captivating. William’s skill in balancing the contrast between the darkened sky and the radiant solar corona highlights the intensity and beauty of totality, encapsulating the ephemeral nature of the moment in a timeless photograph.

Skywatcher Australia black logo

OVERALL WINNER PHOTO

Overall

NIGHTSCAPE

As judged by Adrien Mauduit on behalf of Alyn Wallace, vale.

GOLD AWARD WINNER:

Tom Rae – Envision

SILVER AWARD WINNERS:

(in no particular order)

Tom Rae – Lightning Lake
Paul Wilson – Skyswirl
Baillie Farley – Plane Henge
Max Inwood – A Ring of Fire

BRONZE AWARD WINNERS:

(in no particular order)

Abby Keith – Solitude
Binh Le Thanh – Heavens Above Westerman Homestead
Kavan Chay – Majestic
Kavan Chay – Starlight Therapy
Kavan Chay – Tasman Glow
Kavan Chay – Silence
Richard Zheng – Lonely Station
Evan McKay – Castlepoint
Brent Martin – Red Rock Racer
Baillie Farley – Toolondo
Baillie Farley – Uluru Dreaming
Rachel Roberts – Reflection Road
Larryn Rae – Aoraki Dreaming
Paul Wilson – Skyfire
Paul Wilson – Stars of the Sea

PRIZES:

GOLD WINNER x 1

Star Adventurer GTi – Valued At $1249

JUDGES COMMENT:

“No less than a masterpiece! I could only dream of such a shot myself. Everything in this shot is controlled to perfection, from the composition to the difficulty of location, to the brightness of the sky, to the blending of the landscape, to the choice of colours. This panorama is something to aspire to for any astrophotographer: a gorgeous milky way arch, the zodiacal lights and gegenschein, LMC & SMC, beautiful emission and reflection nebulae, airglow and a hint of Aurora Australis to the south. Great effort adding a car trail to add to the landscape and follow the river without being too distracting (excellent light pollution control). The overall photograph is dreamy, ethereal and mind-blowing. It really transports the viewer out of this world. Congratulations on this well deserved first place!”

“This year, I feel extremely lucky to be judging this category to honour the memory of Alyn Wallace who was the initial judge before his untimely passing. I have very big shoes to fill and I hope I have made him proud. Many thanks to all who entered this category. The deliberation process has been far from easy this year due to the incredibly high level of technique and pots-process used.”

NIGHTSCAPE WINNER PHOTO

GOLDTom Rae – Envision
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Profile Picture

TOM RAE – ENVISION

Tom Rae is a 19 year old astrophotographer capturing the beautiful alpine and astronomical environments of New Zealand.

Image details:

In this image, the central spiral arms of our Milky Way Galaxy descend into the glow of a small village in the heart of NZ’s southern alps – a land like no other.

AURORA AUSTRALIS

As judged by Adrien Mauduit

GOLD AWARD WINNER:

Tristian McDonald – Aurora/SAR Arc

SILVER AWARD WINNERS:

(in no particular order)

Samuel Markham – Amos Australis
Luke Rasmussen – Straight down the Guts
Luke Rasmussen – The Flying Lady
Rachel Roberts – Mahinapua Lights

BRONZE AWARD WINNERS:

(in no particular order)

Ian Griffin – Reflections of Brilliance
Nicholas Doran – Radiance
Mark Osmotherly – Overarching Beauty
Kavan Chay – Everything will be Ok
Chris Owen – S(t)AR Gazer
Richard Zheng – Brilliant Sky Bridge
Sebastian Vacchino – This is the Way
Will Hudson – Southern Delights
Navaneeth Unnikrishnan – Tranquil Tapestry
Benjamin Alldridge – Bump
Annette Kelly – Blue Rays
Paul Wilson – Enchant
Paul Wilson – Nightwatch
Rachel Roberts – Pinakaiki Lights
Larryn Rae – Light the Way

PRIZES:

GOLD WINNER x 1

Star Adventurer GTi – Valued At $1249

JUDGES COMMENT:

“An absolutely mind-blowing image, which shows both the sheer power unleashed through the aurora and the width / height of the display from the May 10-12th G5-level geomagnetic storm. I really appreciated the square warping mode for the panorama, which deliberately highlights the shape of the SAR-arc encircling the main auroral oval further south, just like a portal to another dimension. Excellent balance in the composition and post-processing between landscape and sky, both of which are a testament to the vastness of the event. Congratulations!”

AURORA AUSTRALIS WINNER PHOTO

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TRISTIAN McDONALD – AURORA/SAR ARC

My name is Tristian McDonald I’m an Award Winning Landscape Astrophotographer originally from Scotland now based out of Wanaka, New Zealand. I’ve always had a fascination with the night sky and for the past 6 years me and my trusty D750 have been capturing everything it has to offer!

Image details:

This 32 image Multi-row panorama of the Aurora Australis and SAR Arc was photographed on the 2-12-23 at Poolburn Reservoir in central Otago. I shot this with my Nikon D750 and a Tamron 24-70mm @ 24mm – ISO1600 – f3.2 – 5sec sub frames.

DEEP SPACE

As judged by Trevor Jones

GOLD AWARD WINNER:

Amrit Prasad – Centaurus A

SILVER AWARD WINNERS:

(in no particular order)

Chester Hall-Fernandez – Trifid
Carlos Taylor – Vela Spiral Flame
Anne-Maree McComb – Corona Australis
Katherine Miller – Cone and the Christmas Tree

BRONZE AWARD WINNERS:

(in no particular order)

Mick McNamara – Fighting Dragons
David Cowland – Quill
Benjamin Brown – Pencil of Vela
Oakley Chatman – Core of Orion
Jay Taylor – Rim Nebula
Jay Taylor – Hydra Cluster
Peter Patonai – M16
Joe Nidd – Carine Nebula
Luke Shepherd – Inferno Steed
Chi Chan – Trifid Nebula
John Gill – Running Man
Jacob Heppell – NGC2467
Benjamin Marks – Liberty Aglow
Katherine Miller – Eagle Nebula
Daniel Faull – Thor’s Helmet

PRIZES:

GOLD WINNER

Star Adventurer GTi – Valued At $1249

JUDGES COMMENT:

“The depth, star colour, and overall presentation of the subject is captivating. The final result exemplifies a commitment to revealing the full story of a deep-sky object.”

DEEP SPACE WINNER PHOTO

GOLD 1Amrit Prasad – Centaurus A
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Amrit Prasad

AMRIT PRASAD – CENTAURUS A

I work in IT by day and some combination of rabbit hole chaser by night – sometimes it’s musical instruments and other times telescopic instruments.

Image details:

 Here is Centaurus A, a pure passion project with 120 hours of exposure time, captured using 1 minute broadband and 3 minute HA exposures from my backyard in Auckland, post processing taking about equally as long! Thanks to the relatively wide field of view afforded by the Esprit 100 and my APSC camera, we see not only the beautifully crisp details of the primary subject but also count around 80 known galaxies all around. We also observe the relatively lesser observed a, b & c filmaments along with very rarely observed southern jet.

SOLAR SYSTEM

As judged by Terry Lovejoy

GOLD AWARD WINNER:

Dennis Mellican – Lunar Ball

SILVER AWARD WINNERS:

Ian Griffin – Solar Transit
Amrit Prasad – Our Active Star
Dominic Dwyer – The Clouds of Venus
Kristian Parrott – Bahtinov Moon

BRONZE AWARD WINNERS:

James Charman – Red Moon
James Charman – Eclipse in the Clouds
Kristian Parrott – Solar Disc with ISS Transit
Kristian Parrott – After the Eclipse
Scott Cutler – Saturn
Dennis Mellican – Starlink Moon Transit
Mike White – Phases of a Total Lunar Eclipse
Dominic Dwyer – The Moon
Ash Cain – Moon
Ash Cain – Clavius Crater
Ash Cain – Hadley Rille
Scott Cutler – Saturn
James Bui – Sunlit Serenity
Benjamin Marks – Jupiter
Katherine Miller – The Exmouth Eclipse

PRIZES:

GOLD WINNER

Star Adventurer GTi – Valued At $1249

JUDGES COMMENT:

“Great job on the full disk of the moon, also love the blue glare background. Excellent!”

SOLAR SYSTEM WINNER PHOTO

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DENNIS MELLICAN – LUNAR BALL

Based in Brisbane, Dennis Mellican has his head in the clouds (of computing) during the day, but has a disdain for anything related to clouds at night.

Image details:

Dennis produced the Lunar Ball, by carefully aligning two sides of a moon capture taken days apart with a Sky-Watcher Mak-180 telescope and a Sony A7IV camera (ISO 200; 60s 4k60p video). Interestingly, among all the astrophotography in his portfolio—ranging from deep-sky objects and planetary images to nightscapes—the general public seem to be particularly drawn to his moon photos.

THANKS TO OUR JUDGES!

Many thanks to our world renowned judges Trevor Jones and Terry Lovejoy. A special thank you to Adrien Mauduit for also judging the Nightscape category. Our friend Alyn Wallace will be dearly missed, and live on within his incredible images.

We sincerely appreciate our Judges time and expertise. You can find their social media accounts below.

TREVOR JONES

@astrobackyard
astrobackyard.com

VALE ALYN WALLACE

@alynwallace
alynwallacephotography.com

ADRIEN MAUDUIT

@nightlightsfilms
nightlightsfilms.com

TERRY LOVEJOY

@terrylovejoy1966
Terry’s Wikipedia Page