Caption: 2021年国际天文学联合会教育办公室天文摄影大赛月全食类别的第二名。 月全食是一种相当壮观的天文现象，无论是否使用望远镜都可以轻松观测到。这里展示的是2018年1月31日在印度尼西亚拍摄的月全食各个阶段：从满月进入地球圆形本影的开始，到全食阶段呈现的“血月”，再到月亮开始离开地球本影直至月落。
Credit: 穆罕默德·雷汉/国际天文学联合会教育办公室

Caption: Third place in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Wide star fields. This rich panoramic image shows a range of constellations, deep sky objects and planets. The brightest point of light with a pale reddish hue (left of center) is the planet Mars. In the bottom far left of the image, located just above the sloped roof of the building are two points of light appearing very close to each other, these are the planets Jupiter (brighter) and Saturn. To the far right of the image the two fuzzy cloud-like objects are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These are satellite dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way located at a distance of approximately 160,000 and 200,000 light years, respectively. The Andromeda Galaxy, which is located at an approximate distance of 2.5 million light years, appears in this image as a small, angled smudge between Mars and the brightest glow on the horizon (closer to the horizon). The bright glow is not from the Sun or the Moon, but the city lights of San Pedro de Atacama. Prominent constellations include: Orion – identified by the three stars forming Orion’s Belt; Taurus – a small triangle shaped collection of stars to the left of Orion and identified by the pale orange star (Aldebaran) at the vertex of the triangle; Canis Major – to the bottom right of Orion, identified by the bright star Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky) and three stars in the shape of a triangle just above the observatory dome in the foreground; Pegasus – identified by the trapezium shape diagonally below Mars. Other constellations include Andromeda, Perseus and Aries. Diverse cultures around the world have their own names and rich stories associated with these constellations and many others. To the top right of Orion’s Belt is an angled line of stars (Orion’s Sword) within which is a pinkish smudge (looks like a fuzzy star when observed with the unaided eye) that is the Orion Nebula – a stellar nursery located 1500 light years from Earth – where stars are formed. To the left of Taurus is a compact fuzzy smudge, and that is the Pleiades star cluster. The variation in the colour of stars is the result of temperature of the stars, for example, the red orange star to the bottom left of Orion’s Belt is the red giant star Betelgeuse. Cooler stars appear redder, compared to the higher temperature white and bluish stars. The colours in the image are enhanced because of the higher sensitivity of the digital camera compared to the human eye.
Credit: Robert Barsa/IAU OAE

Caption: Honourable mention in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   Taken in May 2022 in Teide National Park in Tenerife, Spain, this image shows the arc of the Milky Way galaxy crossing the sky, accompanied by prominent constellations over the professional telescopes located on the mountains of that island. While the telescopes and the people working with them may  ignore the constellations, the photographer managed to catch the Milky Way in such a way that it almost matches the shape of the mountain. The bright star in the top-left side of the image is Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky and located in the small constellation Lyra. Being a white star, it is the standard star astrophysicists use to define the colour scale. As it is also a relatively close star, only about 25 light-years away, with a relatively simple name, it frequently appears in modern science fiction, for example in Carl Sagan’s famous novel “Contact”, which was filmed in 1997 with Jodie Foster starring as a radio astronomer. The bright star seen below the galaxy and on the left half of the image is Altair, also one of the brightest stars in the night sky and located in the constellation Aquila. Together with Deneb — a star in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) that is not visible in this image — Altair and Vega form the Summer Triangle, a characteristic asterism of popular astronomy in the northern hemisphere, where these telescopes are located. On the right side of the image we can see the constellation Scorpius. This is easily identified by its brightest star, Antares, the reddish star in the Scorpion’s heart. Below it, the whole body and tail of the Scorpion can be found and above it the celestial Scorpion's head is represented by three bright bluish stars. Below the tail and above the horizon, the constellation of Ara, the Altar, is half-visible, but like all the stars of Sagittarius in the Milky Way and the much fainter ones in Hercules and Ophiuchus above it, these constellations are more difficult to pinpoint in this photograph full of stars. The head of Ophiuchus is the relatively bright star in the middle between Vega and Antares. In addition to the huge size of this constellation, it is also important because it is the thirteenth one of the Zodiac, and the Sun spends roughly three weeks in Ophiuchus, after only five days in Scorpius. Furthermore, Ophiuchus represents the model for the mythological best doctor in the world, called Asklepios in Greek mythology, and Aesculab in Latin. His constellation praises all people working in medical professions, including nurses, pharmacists and doctors.
Credit: Curd-Christian Tengeler/IAU OAE

Caption: 在哥伦比亚塔塔科阿沙漠广袤无垠的夜空下，一架天文望远镜对准了宏伟的银河核心，同时一部智能手机记录下了这次宇宙邂逅。这张照片拍摄于2023年6月9日的一次天文夏令营，象征着天体奇观的美丽与平易近人，它展示了夜空令人着迷的壮丽景色，吸引了普通的观星者和热情的天文学家。银河的壮丽通过移动设备优雅地捕捉下来，在精密设备与纯粹、深邃的观星乐趣之间架起了一座无缝的桥梁。
Credit: Juan Pablo Botero Londoño/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)

Caption: 2023 年 6 月，在纳米比亚，H.E.S.S 天文台的天空一片漆黑，组成银河系的恒星似乎数不胜数，让人难以在这张用智能手机拍摄的照片上分辨星座。在照片左下方的塔附近，可见半人马座阿尔法星和贝塔星。在照片左侧的 H.E.S.S 望远镜右上方，可见一颗橙色恒星——心宿二，位于天蝎座心脏的一颗红巨星。
Credit: Jianfeng Dai/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)

Caption: 这段延时摄影捕捉了来自国家天体物理研究所 (INAF) 的 64 米撒丁岛射电望远镜 (SRT) 周围的恒星运动，特别是在天球背景下著名的北斗七星。随着飞机飞过和射电望远镜旋转，著名的北斗七星在天空中下沉，镜头也随之移动。恒星的轨迹与射电望远镜的巨大天线之间的和谐互动，为 2019 年 9 月拍摄的宇宙芭蕾谱写了一曲令人着迷的视觉颂歌。
Credit: Antonio Finazzi/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)