The Quiet Predator by Ali Alobaidly has been named the overall winner of the 18th ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich. The image, which frames the Shark Nebula (LDN 1235) in the constellation Cepheus, was selected from entries that span amateur and semi-professional work capturing celestial phenomena. The winner receives a cash award of £10,000, and the leading images will be shown at the National Maritime Museum in London.
Alobaidly recorded the shark-shaped gas cloud from the Jahra governorate in Kuwait over two nights in August 2025, using an Askar 140 APO telescope mounted on a Sky-Watcher EQ8-R and a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera. The Shark Nebula sits roughly 650 light-years from Earth, offering a dramatic foreground of dark gas and emission regions. The judges highlighted the combination of technical skill and composition that produced depth and detail in this relatively close molecular cloud.
The contest also recognised a range of specialised achievements across categories. In the aurora category Radoslav Sviretsov captured a green crown of northern lights above a remote church in Iceland. Petr Horalek received the Moon prize for a sequence taken on 19 September 2025 that shows Venus grazing the lunar limb, a moment the judges described as a bright “pearl.” Miguel Claro won for solar imaging with a high-resolution view of Active Region 4122, while Tom Williams documented a near-edge-on ring perspective of Saturn during its equinox. Other winners include Max Inwood for a people-and-space tableau in the American desert, Stefano Pellegrini for star trails over Botswana and a team from China who produced a striking portrait of NGC 4753 taken from Chile.
The full set of category winners and judges’ commentary is available via the contest website at https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/astronomy-photographer-year. The National Maritime Museum exhibition opens on 18 September and will present the prizewinning images together with runners-up, offering a wide overview of contemporary astronomy photography techniques and subjects.
