Photo Contest – Our Awesome Universe

Pic of the Week: “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers”

Posted on August 28, 2025August 27, 2025 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Shortlisted image “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers.” (Tianyao Yang)}

ZWO’s annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest recently highlighted its 2025 shortlisted images, such as the image above from photographer Tianyao Yang titled “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers.”

Here is the photographer’s description of the photo:

This photograph captures a red Full Moon rising beside Shanghai’s tallest skyscrapers in Lujiazui. Taken from a distance of 26.5 km (16.5 miles) from the skyscrapers in a single exposure, this image’s alignment took five years of planning. The Full Moon appears perfectly positioned next to the illuminated skyline, creating a striking contrast.

Check out many other images at the contest site. The winning images will be announced at a ceremony on September 11, 2025.

Pic of the Week: “Another World”

Posted on July 31, 2025August 27, 2025 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): 2025 shortlisted photo titled “Another World” by Felix Sproll. (https://reachforthestars.ie/exhibition/)}

This week’s image comes from Ireland’s DIAS Reach for the Stars 2025 astronomy photo competition. The 2025 winners have yet to be announced, but the photos are available for the public to view (and vote on until last week).

This shortlisted entry by photographer Felix Sproll is titled “Another World.” It was taken in Dun Laoghaire located in Dublin, Ireland.

This is the story about the image from its creator:

Full moon rising behind Baily Lighthouse on Howth 9km away looking like another planet. I happened to be in Dun Laoghaire when I saw that the full Moon was set to rise on the opposite side of Dublin bay so I ligned it up with Baily Lighthouse at the end of Howth. I calculated the position to get the moon in the centre of the lighthouse when it reached the lighthouse using the photopills app. Nikon Z7ii and tamron 100-400 at 400mm, 1/5sec, ISO 6400, F6.3, minor adjustments in LR.

You can find many other fun images on the competition website. Winners will be announced next month.

2024 Space Hightlights – Images

Posted on December 29, 2024December 30, 2024 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Moonrise over the statue of Christ the Redeemer. (Yuri Beletsky)}

It’s that time of year to list some of the most interesting space-related events and images from 2024.

To start the list, here are “the best space images of 2024” from Universe Space Tech, including the image shown above.

If you want to see more amazing images, check out:

^{Image (Credit): Passo Giau, Italy. (Andrea Curzi)}

Pic of the Week: The Best of 2024

Posted on December 5, 2024November 30, 2025 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Odysseus Leaves Earth. (Intuitive Machines)}

This week’s image is the best space exploration image winner in The Planetary Society’s Best of 2024 contest. It shows the Odysseus lunar lander, launched on February 15, leaving the Earth behind as it travels to the Moon. You can read more about the lunar mission to the lunar South Pole by visiting this NASA mission page.

Visit The Planetary Society for more on the Best of 2024 winners, including the most exciting upcoming planetary science mission. I won’t spoil the news. You can read about it yourself.

The Planetary Society’s Best of 2024

Posted on November 23, 2024November 23, 2024 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): in this image titled “A cloudy eclipse,” Planetary Society member Joshua Nichols captured this picture of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse in Texas, where light clouds highlighted the eclipse’s effects. (Joshua Nichols)}

As the year rolls to a close, it’s time to think about the most interesting space moments of 2024. With that in mind, The Planetary Society is happy to help by providing images and events from the year that you can rank as the best of the year. To participate in the 2024 survey, just go to this link.

You can select your choice in categories such as: