The full competition rules are available here. If you have any questions, please email astrophotocomp@rmg.co.uk.

The different categories are listed below. For further details, check the competition rules.

Adult competition categories

• Aurorae: Photographs featuring the northern and southern lights (Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis)
• Galaxies: Photographs of deep-space objects beyond the Milky Way galaxy, including galaxies, galaxy clusters and stellar associations
• Our Moon: Photographs of the Moon, including lunar eclipses and the occultation of stars and planets.
• Our Sun: Photographs of the Sun, including solar eclipses and transits.
• People and Space: Photographs of the night sky that include people or elements that show the presence or influence of human beings
• Planets, Comets and Asteroids: Photographs of objects in our solar system, including planets and their satellites, comets, asteroids and other forms of zodiacal debris
• Skyscapes: Photographs of landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes in which the night sky or twilight sky is a prominent feature
• Stars and Nebulae: Photographs of deep-space objects in the Milky Way galaxy, including stars, star clusters, supernova remnants, nebulae and other galactic phenomena

Young competition

There are no separate categories in the Young competition. The Young competition will have one winner, one runner-up and three highly commended awards.

Special prizes

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer: For newcomers who have only been practising astronomy photography since January 2021, are aged 16 or over, and have not entered the competition before.

The Annie Maunder Prize for Image Innovation: For images processed using pre-existing open source data. Find out more about this category here.