The overall winner of Royal Observatory Greenwich’s ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 18 is The Quiet Predator by Ali Alobaidly. This image captures The Shark Nebula (LDN 1235), which lies almost 650 light years away in the constellation Cepheus. A dark nebula, it is made of interstellar dust dense enough to block starlight. The image will be on display alongside the winners of the other categories in the accompanying exhibition, opening at the National Maritime Museum, London on Friday 18 September 2026.

Ali Alobaidly, Overall Winner, said, ‘Receiving this award is a tremendous honour. I am in awe of the extraordinary work of my fellow photographers, each deserving of this recognition.

The juxtaposition of an oceanic predator prowling the skies above the Kuwaiti desert is something I find deeply poetic, and it is what first drew me to this remarkable region of the sky. To me, it represents perfectly my love for both the Universe and the deserts of my ancestors. 

Looking ahead, I hope to continue using astrophotography not only to inspire wonder, but also to contribute to scientific research while using my images to make astronomy more accessible, engaging and meaningful through science communication and education.’

Steve Marsh, Art Editor at BBC Sky at Night Magazine and Judge, said, ‘Sometimes a photograph comes alive through its flawless presentation, pin-sharp details and dynamic contrast of light and dark. This is such an image. The Shark Nebula is already a striking object, but when it is resolved to the point where even detail-rich distant galaxies can be seen through it, you know you’re looking at something very special.’

The ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year award was won by Nikolaos Strimpoulis for his image Mineral Moon. This image is a close-up of the surface of the Moon, including dark areas (known as maria) and bright areas (known as the highlands). The smooth, dark areas are ancient lava flows, while the rugged highlands have been shaped by billions of years of impacts. 

Steve Marsh, Art Editor at BBC Sky at Night Magazine and Judge, said ‘Many of us start our astrophotography journey with the Moon – some of us stay there forever! But often we don’t delve deep into the subtle colours of its mineral deposits until much later. This amazing young astrophotographer has achieved perfectly developed colouring in this photograph.’

The other winning images include Saturnian Equinox by Tom Williams, which beautifully captures a rare ring-plane crossing of Saturn in 2025, Botswana Star Trail by Stefano Pellegrini and The Crown by Radoslav Sviretsov, which shows a spectacular aurora. In the Annie Maunder Open Category, judges awarded the winning prize to Reverse Astronomy: Mother by Paweł Paweł.

Sam Wen, Founder and CEO of ZWO, said, ‘This year's Overall Winner, The Quiet Predator by Ali Alobaidly, is a stunning blend of technical excellence and artistic vision. Showcasing the intricate structures of a rarely photographed nebula, the image combines remarkable detail with a striking composition and colour palette, inviting viewers to explore the hidden beauty of the cosmos.

A result of exceptional skill, patience and dedication, this outstanding image also marks a historic milestone, as Ali is the first Overall Winner from Kuwait in the competition's history.’

Dr Greg Brown, Royal Observatory Greenwich Astronomer and Judge, said, ‘I never tire of seeing the new entries into the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. For a sky that, at least in some ways, is remarkably unchanging from year to year, the skill and innovation of the entrants, coupled with improvements in technology, means that there is always a wealth of new sights to be seen even in targets that have been observed many times over. The images from this, the 18th year of the competition, continue to show the growth of a community whose passion to capture the stunning variety of our Universe knows as few bounds as the subjects of their images. The only issue, of course, is how difficult a job this makes for the judges – although, as issues go, it's a great one to have!’

 

Exhibition information for visitors:

Venue:                                     National Maritime Museum, London

Dates:                                     Opening 18 September 2026 

Website:                                  rmg.co.uk/shortlist 

Visitor Enquiries:                    020 8858 4422 | bookings@rmg.co.uk

Twitter:                                   @RMGreenwich #APY18
Instagram:                              @royalmuseumsgreenwich #APY18

Facebook                                /royalmuseumsgreenwich #APY18

Astrophotography Group:      facebook.com/groups/astrophotos

 

 

Notes to editors

1. Full details of the 2026 winners

Stars & Nebulae

 

  • Ali Alobaidly (Kuwait) with The Quiet Predator (Winner and Overall Winner)
  • Kfir Simon (Israel) with Beyond the Wormhole (Runner-Up)

  • Cédric Humbert (France) with Abell 85 (Highly Commended)

Aurorae

  • Radoslav Sviretsov (Bulgaria) with The Crown (Winner)
  • Phil Halper (UK) with Aurora Between Two Continents (Runner-Up)
  • MaryBeth Kiczenski (USA) with On the Edge of Glory (Highly Commended)

Our Moon

  • Petr Horalek (Czechia) with Venusian Pearl on the Moon (Winner)
  • Raul Cantemir (Germany) with Plato and Vallis Alpes (Runner-Up)
  • Tom Williams (UK) with Pythagoras Crater (Highly Commended) 

Our Sun

  • Miguel Claro (Portugal) with Active Region 4122 (Winner)
  • Peter Ward (Australia) with Anatomy of the Chromosphere (Runner-Up)

  • James McBeath (UK) with Moody Partial Solar Eclipse (Highly Commended)

People and Space

  • Max Inwood (Aotearoa/New Zealand) with A Message from the Ancients (Winner)
  • Dan Zafra (Spain) with Capture the Night (Runner-Up)
  • AJ Smadi (USA) with Golden Moonrise Over Seattle (Highly Commended) 

Planets, Comets and Asteroids

  • Tom Williams (UK) with Saturnian Equinox (Winner)
  • Tom Williams (UK) with The Uranian System (Runner-Up)
  • Julien De Winter (Belgium) and Landon Boehm (USA) with Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), 28 October (Highly Commended)

Skyscapes

  • Stefano Pellegrini (Italy) with Botswana Star Trail (Winner)
  • Tom Rae (New Zealand) with Cosmic Canyon (Runner-Up)

  • João Yordanov Serralheiro (Portugal) with I Hear the Stars (Highly Commended)

Galaxies

  • 智鹏 严 and Xinran Li (China) with NGC 4753: A Symphony of Dust Lanes in Virgo (Winner)
  • Patrick Winkler (Austria) with M104: Pure Elegance (Runner-Up)
  • Shaoyu Zhang (China) with Wildflowers Across a Neighbouring Galaxy: The Large Magellanic Cloud (Highly Commended)

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer

  • Haocheng Zhu (China) with M1: Echoes of an Ancient Explosion (Winner)

ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year

  • Nikolaos Strimpoulis (Greece) with Mineral Moon (Winner)
  • Kaiyan Ma (China) with M20: The Trifid Nebula (Runner-Up)
  • 与晨 林 (China) with Celestial Enchantress (Highly Commended)
  • Shamiqh Gajdhar (India) with A Sphere of Opposites (Highly Commended)
  • Benjamin and Joshua Lawler (UK) with The Heart Nebula (Highly Commended) 

The Annie Maunder Open Category

  • Paweł Paweł (Poland) with Reverse Astronomy: Mother (Winner)

2. The overall winner will receive £10,000. Winners of all other categories and the photographer named winner in the ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year category will receive £1,500. There are also prizes for runners-up (£500) and highly commended (£250) entries. The special prize winners will receive £750. All the winning entrants will receive a one-year subscription to BBC Sky at Night Magazine.

3. Royal Observatory Greenwich is the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian and one of the most important historic scientific sites in the world. Since its founding in 1675, the Royal Observatory in Greenwich has been at the centre of the measurement of time and space and visitors today can still stand on the historic Prime Meridian line. The Observatory galleries and Peter Harrison Planetarium help unravel the extraordinary phenomena of time, space and astronomy. In 2018, the Royal Observatory acquired the Annie Maunder Astrographic Telescope (AMAT), the first new telescope to be installed in Greenwich in over 60 years, marking a new era for the world-famous site and restoring its status as a working observatory.

The Royal Observatory is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, which also incorporates the National Maritime Museum, the Queen’s House and Cutty Sark. This unique collection of museums and heritage buildings, which form a key part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site, is also a major centre of education and research. The mission of Royal Museums Greenwich is to enrich people’s understanding of the sea, the exploration of space and Britain’s role in world history. For more information visit rmg.co.uk.

4. ZWO is a global leader in astrophotography solutions, recognised for advancing CMOS camera technology, smart telescope systems and integrated imaging workflows. Founded in 2011, the company develops reliable, purpose-built tools used by observatories, research institutions and astrophotographers worldwide. Its ASI camera series and ASIAIR control platform have become industry standards, supporting deep-sky and planetary imaging with consistent performance and an ecosystem designed for seamless operation. By focusing on equipment that works dependably and intuitively, ZWO helps remove many of the barriers that often stand between users and the night sky, making the process of connecting with the cosmos more straightforward and rewarding. Through ongoing development and collaboration with the astronomy community, ZWO continues to shape the future of astrophotography in both amateur and professional astronomy. For more information, visit zwoastro.com.

5. BBC Sky at Night Magazine is Britain’s best-selling astronomy magazine, with a combined print and digital monthly circulation of more than 40,000 readers. skyatnightmagazine.com has 1.2 million visits a month and reaches more than 100,000 organic social media followers through Facebook, X and Instagram. The magazine is available monthly through its app (available on Apple App Store and Google Play), on Apple News, on Zinio and in print, and is media partner of the annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. With writing from the world’s leading astronomers and science communicators, BBC Sky at Night Magazine complements one of the world’s longest running TV programmes, BBC Four’s The Sky at Night, and is published by Our Media under licence from BBC Worldwide.

6. Royal Observatory Greenwich, in partnership with Collins, will be publishing Astronomy Photographer of the Year, Collection 15 in September 2026, RRP £30.00. It is the official publication of the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition and will showcase breathtaking images of space and the night sky from the 2026 competition shortlist. Photographs will be accompanied by full details, including each photographer’s information, location where photographs were taken and technical specifications.

Last year’s publication is still available to buy: Astronomy Photographer of the Year, Collection 14 / RRP £30.00 / Hardback / Published September 2025 / Royal Museums Greenwich online shop. For further information or to request review copies please contact: Catherine Howe / catherine.howe@harpercollins.co.uk / 020 8307 4048. 

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Media interviews:

The Modern Astronomy team at Royal Observatory Greenwich is dedicated to the public understanding of science and its experts are available to give radio and TV interviews on astronomy – at the historic Observatory site or in the studio.

The Observatory offers a short notice service to media stations looking for comment or interviews on any aspect of modern astronomy – discussing new discoveries and space missions, telling people what to look for in this month’s night sky, or talking about old favourites like black holes, whether there is life beyond Earth and the origins of the Universe.

For further information or images, please contact:

Press Office Tel: 020 8312 6790/6667/6545 

or Email: press@rmg.co.uk