Enjoy the stellar winning images from Indian astrophotography contest revealed
Dec 26, 2024
Soumyadeep Mukherjee
Soumyadeep Mukherjee is an award-winning astrophotographer from India. He has a doctorate degree in Linguistics. His work extends to the sub-genres of nightscape, deep sky, solar, lunar and optical phenomenon photography. He is also a photography educator and has conducted numerous workshops. His works have appeared in over 40 books & magazines including Astronomy, BBC Sky at Night, Sky & Telescope among others, and in various websites including National Geographic, NASA, Forbes. He was the first Indian to win “Astronomy Photographer of the Year” award in a major category.
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On 22nd December 2024, the winners and shortlisted images of the “Aperture” Indian Astrophotographer of the Year contest were revealed. And the images are “out of this world”.
In its 3rd edition, the astrophotography contest received 771 images from 141 enthusiastic Indian astrophotographers. Submissions were invited across four categories: nightscape, solar system, deep sky and mobile astrophotography. Organised by Astronomads Bangla, in association with M. P. Birla Planetarium, this contest aims to showcase the talents of the Indian astrophotography community.
Table of contents
Winners: Nightscape
The image of a star trail with fireflies by Ranit Dholey was declared the winner of the nightscape category. Aditya Kinjawadekar’s image “Milky Way and the Visitor”, showcasing the Comet A3 and the Milky Way’s Sagittarius arm, got the runner-up position. A rare capture of Stable Auroral Red Arc (SAR Arc) from India by Sai Srinivas L was crowned as Highly Commended.
Winners: Solar System
The second category in the contest showcases the beauty of our solar system. The winning image, “Eclipse at Sea” by Himadri Bhuyan captures a partial solar eclipse from the western coastal region of India. Deepak Singh Dogra captured the International Space Station, transiting our sun. This image was declared as the runner-up for this category. The highly commended image by Devesh Pande shows the Bailey’s Beads captured during a total solar eclipse.
Winners: Deep Sky
The deep sky category celebrates the beauty of the universe outside of our solar system. The image of Messier 13, a globular cluster by Prabhakaran A was crowned the winner of the deep sky category. Aditya Soni’s image of the core of the heart nebula secured the runner-up position. An image of the dolphin-head nebula by Paresh Kokate was declared as the highly commended image for this category.
Winners: Best Mobile Astrophotographer
With the continued advancement of technology, smartphones are now equipped with high-quality cameras and sensors with fantastic low-light performance. The winning image of this category, “Citylights and Comet” by Pramod Singh Khati, showcases the capabilities of modern-day smartphones when it comes to astrophotography.
Shortlisted Images from the contest
Along with the winners, the shortlisted images from the contest are captivating, too. All these images will be exhibited at M. P. Birla Planetarium, Kolkata, beginning on 28th December 2024.
Nightscape category
Solar system category
Deep sky category
Best mobile astrophotographer category
You can check the result announcement video and listen to the winning astrophotographers on this YouTube video. The complete list of winning and shortlisted images, along with the yearbook of the contest, can be found here.
Clear skies!
Soumyadeep Mukherjee
Soumyadeep Mukherjee is an award-winning astrophotographer from India. He has a doctorate degree in Linguistics. His work extends to the sub-genres of nightscape, deep sky, solar, lunar and optical phenomenon photography. He is also a photography educator and has conducted numerous workshops. His works have appeared in over 40 books & magazines including Astronomy, BBC Sky at Night, Sky & Telescope among others, and in various websites including National Geographic, NASA, Forbes. He was the first Indian to win “Astronomy Photographer of the Year” award in a major category.
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