Royal Observatory Photo Contest Winners

September 11, 2010 7:27 AM

This  may just be the most peaceful, beautiful 5-1/2 minutes of your entire day: An audio slideshow look at some of the winning images, guided by one of the judges, of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich's 2010 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Interested in "giving it a go"? Here are some guides to photographing different aspects of the night sky.
posted by spock (24 comments total)

That was indeed a great way to start the day. Good find.
posted by Fizz at 7:33 AM on September 11, 2010

Wow. Those were stunning!
posted by zizzle at 7:37 AM on September 11, 2010

These are wonderful, thank you for sharing the link!

Here's the official site and related Flicker feed. So much good stuff, I'm abuzz the beautiful wonder of the larger universe!
posted by nomadicink at 7:38 AM on September 11, 2010

Some of those made me suck my breath in really hard. Amazing! Thanks!!
posted by nosila at 7:41 AM on September 11, 2010

That was time well spent.
posted by LoudMusic at 7:56 AM on September 11, 2010

Exquisite...
posted by Increase at 8:18 AM on September 11, 2010

Beautiful, and I love the commentary... "And of course, that "w" shape we all know and love... Cassiopeia"
posted by cyphill at 8:19 AM on September 11, 2010

Wow. Just... wow.

Thanks for that.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 8:25 AM on September 11, 2010

Amazing photos - really liked the contrast of the Bristlecone pine trees with the night sky.
posted by garnetgirl at 8:29 AM on September 11, 2010

Slightly eponysterical, too.
posted by zadcat at 8:34 AM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Thanks for that link, beautiful. Orion's nebula was awe inspiring, you can see the horsehead nebula down at the bottom as well
posted by derbs at 8:47 AM on September 11, 2010

Great find. Thank you.
posted by aberrant at 8:57 AM on September 11, 2010

My friend Mark likes Cassiopeia because of the 'm' shape, his initial.

I especially liked the picture in Big Sur
posted by MtDewd at 9:04 AM on September 11, 2010

Nice.

But needs more Brian Eno.
posted by Joe Beese at 9:21 AM on September 11, 2010

what an incredibly humbling slideshow - thanks for the post!
posted by h0p3y at 9:46 AM on September 11, 2010

Music + deep voice + astronomical images puts me in planetarium mode, which is like the pacifist's version of brain stapling, I think. I need a dose of this regularly.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:00 AM on September 11, 2010

Just breathtaking. Thanks so much.
posted by rtha at 10:07 AM on September 11, 2010

This is a timelapse made by the guy who shot the bristlecone pine/Milky Way photo. It's all rocks and stars and trees. Very cool. And I feel like he's been on MeFi before...
posted by rtha at 10:15 AM on September 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

And he has. I'll shut up now.
posted by rtha at 10:17 AM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Stellar. Thanks for sharing this.
posted by punkfloyd at 11:32 AM on September 11, 2010

That's Pfeiffer State Beach at the very end, a great beach w/ streaks of purple sand (garnet?) and that picture shows about as crowded as it ever gets, because it's a little hard to find.
posted by Lukenlogs at 2:54 PM on September 11, 2010

This is brilliant. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I love astronomy.
posted by simulacra at 8:56 PM on September 11, 2010

PS: I wish I could download the BBC slideshow and commandeer it as my new screensaver. : )
posted by simulacra at 8:59 PM on September 11, 2010

@rtha Tom's video is incredible. Fantastic that tech has come far enough to make those incredible shots possible.
posted by Twang at 9:44 PM on September 11, 2010