Much more than 3500 photos have been submitted for the award. Among the the 30 to make the shortlist is Carina Letelier Baeza’s shot Arctic Dragon. Taken at the Arctic Henge in Iceland, it displays an aurora, the final result of a geomagnetic storm created by a coronal mass ejection, which seems like a rearing dragon.
Also on the shortlist is The Scream of a Dying Star (under), taken by Yann Sainty. The “star” in problem is in fact what stays of a supernova – when a star dies and explodes in a incredible show of light-weight and electricity. This 1 transpired close to 10,000 a long time in the past.
Sainty exposed hardly ever viewed information of this glowing remnant, known as the Cygnus Loop, by capitalising on a crystal clear sky in the Atlas mountains in Morocco, blended with a lengthy exposure time. The image’s identify is a nod to the popular painting The Scream by Edvard Munch, although it also symbolises the “scream” that echoes as a result of house immediately after a star dies, in accordance to Sainty.
Beneath is a stunning shot of the sun’s corona (its outermost layer of atmosphere) earlier mentioned the Himalayas, captured by Geshuang Chen close to the Tibetan city of Shigatse. Ordinarily concealed by the brightness of the sun’s area, listed here its corona can be glimpsed many thanks to the thin, blanketing clouds that diffract sunlight as it passes via, ensuing in this lively array of iridescent colours. Chen has referred to as the image The Palette of the Himalayas.
The winners of the opposition, which is run by the Royal Observatory in London, will be declared on 12 September. The winning pictures will be displayed in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in London from 14 September, along with a choice of shortlisted photos.