Facing stiff competition from 152 photographers from 36 countries who submitted 484 photos, three Polish snappers found themselves taking top positions in three categories.
Ireneusz Nowak, from Poland, took first place in the Astrolandscape category for his series of four photos named Purple Ring Aurora over Poland, Aurora over Poland: All colours of aurora, Full spectrum aurora, Aurora over the Oder River.
Captured in May close to the town of Trzebnica in southwest Poland, Nowak said: “Such spectacular views in the night sky have not been seen in our latitudes for almost 20 years.”
In the same category, second place went to fellow Pole Dawid Rycąbel for his photographs Analemma, taken with a pinhole camera, and Solar wanderings, showing the movement of the Sun during 5 hours of exposure.
Meanwhile, Kamil Fiedosiuk took third place in the Deep Sky Objects category for his photo, The Pleiades are hiding something.
Describing the photo, Fiedosiuk said: “Bright stars of the Pleiades shine through the nebulous dust floating in the interstellar medium and their blue light shows apparently gentle tides driven by the light of the stars themselves.”
Announcing the winners, jury chairwoman Bogna Pazderska said: “The level of pieces submitted in this year's edition of AstroCamera was impressive. Selecting the winners, which meant choosing the nine best photos, bordered on a miracle.
“Colorful shots of the aurora borealis, including the one visible over Poland, as well as active areas on the Sun or extremely multi-colored nebulae tempted with their beauty. After difficult debates, the jury selected the winners, awarding many distinctions,” she added.
The concept for the competition originated in 2011, during the Year of the Astronomer and Artist Johannes Hevelius, which commemorated the 400th anniversary of his birth.
Hevelius, the namesake of Hevelianum, was from Gdansk and diligently recorded significant celestial events such as eclipses, comets, and sunspots. He also created the most detailed maps of the Moon.
