Galaxies 2024

Category winner

Echoes of the Past by Bence Tóth and Péter Feltóti

"This picture shows the galaxy NGC 5128 and its surrounding tidal wave system as well as a visualization of the relativistic jet [powerful jets of radiation and particles travelling close to the speed of light] using hydrogen narrowband data. This interesting target can only be photographed from the southern hemisphere, so Peter and I participated in an astrophotography expedition to Namibia. We took our own equipment and stayed there for two weeks," Bence says.

"We captured the image data in parallel with two astrophotography setups and processed the final image from all the data. This galaxy has quite a violent past due to several galaxy merging events. One of the main goals was to show how these disrupting events shaped the galaxy, as the shockwaves are propagated through the entire disc. The surrounding tidal wave system has a much larger area than the galaxy itself, showing how enormous mass is ejected from the galaxy during these merging events. The other target was to show the relativistic jet, the tell-tale sign of the supermassive black hole at the centre."

Taken in Isabis Farm, Namibia, 12–16, 18, 20 and 21 June 2023

Runner-up

A Very Deep Look at the Markarian's Chain by Jakob Sahner

Jakob says, "The Markarian’s Chain is a distinctive alignment of galaxies located in the constellation Virgo. It is actually part of the larger Virgo Supercluster, which is one of the nearest galaxy clusters to the Milky Way. It consists of a series of interacting and gravitationally bound galaxies, meaning that their mutual gravitational forces have influenced their shapes and positions over time. The galaxies in the chain are interacting through tidal forces, causing some of them to display distorted shapes, long tidal tails, or appear as peculiar irregular structures.

"A very special structure in this image is the H-alpha ‘bridge/connection’ between M86 and NGC 4438. It took me about 33 hours of exposure time to even get a little bit of contrast between the ‘noisefloor’ background and signal from the structure itself. I captured these H-alpha images under a ~40–70 per cent illuminated Moon, so not optimal conditions. To get even more details I would have to use an even longer exposure under a New Moon."

Taken in e-EyE (Entre Encinas y Estrellas) Astronomical Complex, Extremadura, Spain, 3 April 2023

Highly commended

M63, the Tidal Streams Around the Sunflower Galaxy by Sophie Paulin, Jens Unger and Jakob Sahner

According to the photographers, "M63 is a truly beautiful spiral galaxy; if you take a very deep look at it, you can reveal its secret! The galaxy is surrounded by faint tidal streams that reach out to 180,000 light years from its core. It is likely that these streams were caused by the disruption of M63’s satellite galaxies and can only be revealed by telescopes under very dark skies."

Taken in e-EyE (Entre Encinas y Estrellas) Astronomical Complex, Extremadura, Spain, 29 March 2023

See the full shortlist

1 / 16

The Single Arm Galaxies: a Mysterious Galactic Trio

e-EyE (Entre Encinas y Estrellas) Astronomical Complex Extremadura Spain, 16, 18, 20, 22–24 April 2023

2 / 16

The Inner Dust Lanes of M104 (Sombrero Galaxy)

El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Chile, 15–26 March 2023

3 / 16

From Triangulum to Andromeda

Lorraine, Grand Est, France, 11, 14–15, 20 and 23–September and 6 October 2023

4 / 16

A Milky Way Mimic

El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Chile, 11, 28 and 30 May, 1, 4, 5, 8 and 29 June, 14–16 and 24 July, 4 August, 3, 5, 6, 12–17, 20 and 21 September 2023

5 / 16

Cosmic Cataclysms

El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Chile, 10 and 12–17 January and 13 September 2023

© ShaRa group: Andrea Bertocco (Italy), Marcella Botti (Italy), Vikas Chander (India), Massimo Di Fusco (Italy), Vincenzo Fiore (Italy), Antonio Grizzuti (Italy), Rolando Ligustri (Italy), Antonio Loro (Italy), Giampaolo Michieletto (Italy), Gianluigi Pazienza (Italy), Alessandro Ravagnin (Italy), Cristiano Trabuio (Italy) and Egidio Vergani (Italy)

6 / 16

The Galaxy Devourer

El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Chile, 14–15 March 2023

7 / 16

NGC 6822: Barnard’s Galaxy

Deep Sky Chile, Río Hurtado, Coquimbo, Chile, 26 July, 13 August, 13, 16 and 19 September 2023

8 / 16

NGC 1313, a Galaxy in Dust

Carapooee, Victoria, Australia, 1 October–10 December 2023

9 / 16

NGC 1269, a Lenticular Galaxy in Eridanus

Carapooee, Victoria, Australia, 25 November 2023