2024 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Finalists Revealed As Dragon-shaped aurora and "scream of a dying star",

From mesmerizing “mythical monsters” to stunning galaxy formations, the shortlisted candidates for Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 display an exquisite beauty in our sky. Here is this year’s beautiful nominees:A Night With the Valkyries by Jose Miguel Picon Chimelis(Image Credit:A Night with the Valkyries by Jose Miguel Picon Chimelis). In this image, an intense geomagnetic storm produces an eye-catching display of vibrant hues across Iceland’s night sky during an outburst of geomagnetic storm activity. “Upon hearing there would be an expected KP7 storm [a severe geomagnetic disturbance capable of creating auroras and disrupting electrical power systems], I became quite excited as to what might unfold,” photographer Jose Miguel Picon Chimelis stated in a statement. He captured an unforgettable panorama photo near Eystrahorn mountain that captured vibrant hues that made for one of his best nighttime photography outing experiences ever. “One of my best nighttime photography outing experiences ever!” was how he described this scene full of life he witnessed during this trip. Solar Pulsation by Wenlian Li (Image Credit: Solar Pulsation (c) Wenlian Li) captured this vibrant display of energy when photographer Wenlian Li captured an exploding sunspot spewing bright plasma onto its surface from beneath its sunshield. Jakob Sahner took this night shot from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, as part of his ongoing Observations at Night series. Beneath menacing cloud formations from Cygnus constellation lies an enormous Isaac Newton Telescope which sits beneath them ominously. “Cygnus stands out amongst other parts of the night sky for its many bright star-forming regions that I find captivating and attractive.” Photographer Jakob Sahner noted in a statement: “Cygnus (Latin for “the Swan”) is a northern constellation located above the Milky Way that can be easily observed without needing a telescope this summer. Below are key nights to watch out for the aurora borealis: Arctic Dragon — Carina Letelier Baeza captured this beautiful photo of an aurora borealis showing as the form of a dragon, captured by Carina Letelier Baeza herself. As it slithers into the distance, its tail disappears beneath the horizon while bright green hues take form as wings that tower above Iceland’s Arctic Henge. A member of the astrophotography team noted its similarity with two iconic fictional monsters. ShaRa Group member Alessandro Ravagnin noted in their release of this image, that this could either be Arrakis from Dune or its antagonistic cousin from Tremors. Sandor Biliczki captured this beautiful photograph of M45: Pleiades constellation by taking into account every blue detail present therein. Image Credits: Sandor Biliczki Pleiades is commonly referred to as Messier 45 or The Seven Sisters due to its constellation’s prominence among millions of stars; but, more prominently known for seven brightest ones that lie 445 light-years from Earth according to NASA. Due to light pollution in Budapest, Biliczki traveled all the way across Spain in order to photograph this constellation. Biliczki noted in his statement, “the Pleiades remain an attractive target among astrophotographers; however, many details have yet to be discovered in them.” Jakob Sahner captured a striking panorama depicting Geminid meteor shower in front of La Palma night sky during winter Milky Way season; during its peak Jakob Sahner saw three meteorites per minute within his field of vision during peak shower period; another striking image captured Cygnus supernova called the Scream of Dying Star by Yann Sainty who captured Cygnus supernova with stunning clarity which Yann Sainty called The Scream of Dying Star”.