Brightest stars: The winners of the 2021 Astronomy Photographer of the Year – Australian Photography

An imagedepicting a transient star trail, the Space X Falcon 9 passing by Earths Moon, and a glowing aurora were among the category winners of this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

Now in its 13th year, Astronomy Photographer of the Year, which is organised annually bythe Royal Observatory Greenwich in association withBBC Sky at Night Magazine, has grown into a respected international competition for astrophotography.

Photographer Shuchang Dong has been announced as this years Overall Winner for his simple yet striking photograph of a solar eclipse titled The Golden Ring.

As winner, Dong walks away with a 10,000 prize as well as the opportunity for his work to be showcased at the exhibition of winning images at the National Maritime Museum, UK.

Commenting on the winning photograph, judge Lszl Francsics said: Perfection and simplicity, that can lead to a winner image. The square crop has a tension with the mystic ring, and the misty bluish sky is the complementary of the yellow ring. A true masterpiece.

Australian photographers Ed Hurst and Steven Mohr have been recognised as shortlisted entrants in the People & Space and the Stars & Nebulae categories, respectively.You can see their impressive stills below.

Aurorae -Dmitrii Rybalka

Skyscapes -Jeffrey Lovelace

People and Space -Deepal Ratnayaka

Our Moon -Nicolas Lefaudeux

Our Sun -Shuchang Dong

Planets, Comets and Asteroids -Frank Kuszaj

Galaxies -Zhong Wu

Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year -Zhipu Wang

If you're keen to see more of the top photographs, you can view the entire gallery of shortlisted images on the competitions website here.

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Brightest stars: The winners of the 2021 Astronomy Photographer of the Year - Australian Photography