People and Space 2020

The Prison of Technology

by Rafael Schmall

Winner

"Sometimes beauty can reveal an unattractive truth. This picture is as aesthetically pleasing as it is shocking. How far must we go in our quest for ‘more’ before we realise how irretrievably we are altering our precious connection with our night sky?".

- Melanie Vandenbrouck, Curator of Art (post-1800) at Royal Museums Greenwich

"Is this image prophetic or will we find a way to navigate through the trails of future satellite megaconstellations to continue our passion for astronomy? Time will tell, but this picture is a stunning look at what our night skies may one day become".

- Steve Marsh, Art Editor at the BBC Sky at Night Magazine

See the overall winners

Observe the Heart of the Galaxy

by Tian Li

Runner-up

"I really liked the photographer’s focus on the activity of observing space – the effort of climbing up the radio telescope speaks of our aspiration to know about space, its contents and ultimately our origins. I would imagine the effort of getting two nebulae in the right place in frame and holding still for the duration of the shot was no small task either. I thought this was a strong and memorable photograph".

- Susan Derges, fine art photographer

AZURE Vapor Tracers

by Yang Sutie

Highly Commended

"While it might seem like an alien invasion, this image perfectly captures the ingenuity humans have to understand and explore their world around them".

- Emily Drabek-Maunder, astrophysicist, astronomer and science communicator at Royal Observatory Greenwich