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Chinese photographers shine in global astronomy competition

By JULIAN SHEA in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-09-16 10:07

The Golden Ring by Chinese photographer Dong Shuchang was named winner of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards on Wednesday. Dong took the picture on June 21, 2020 during an annular solar eclipse in Tibet, where unusually dark clouds threatened to spoil the shoot. CHINA DAILY

An image of a solar eclipse captured by Chinese photographer Dong Shuchang will take pride of place in an exhibition opening at London's National Maritime Museum on Sept 18, after he was named the overall winner of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

The image, entitled The Golden Ring, depicted an eclipse on June 21 2020, and was described by competition judge and 2019 winner Laszlo Francsics as "a true masterpiece … perfection and simplicity, that can lead to a winner image. The square crop has a tension with the mystic ring, and the misty bluish sky is the complementary of the yellow ring."

The image, which also won the Our Sun category, earned Dong a first prize of ten thousand pounds ($13,815). It was not his first success in the annual competition, which this year drew over 4,500 entries from 75 countries. In 2019, he won the Best Newcomer category for his picture Sky and Ground, Stars and Sand.

Several other Chinese photographers performed well in the 2021 competition. Wu Zhong's image The Milky Ring won the Galaxies category, while Yang Jin's picture Van Gogh's Sketchpad was highly commended in the Skyscapes round, but the other stand-out result was 15-year-old Wang Zhipu, who won top prize in the Young Competition category, for his picture Family Photo of the Solar System.

Wang Zhipu's Family Photo of the Solar System won the category for photographers aged 15 and under. The picture of the sun, moon, and planets of the Solar System was taken after the photographer had only studied astrophotography for one year. CHINA DAILY

"As a planetary scientist I applaud the work that has gone into creating this photo. I really like the composition with the moon on the right-hand side too," said competition judge Sheila Kanani.

The 2021 staging of the competition, run in association with the BBC's Sky at Night Magazine, named after the monthly documentary program that has been broadcast continuously since 1957, was the 13th, and the magazine's art editor Steve Marsh, who was one of the competition judges, praised the high standard of the entries.

"The incredibly talented global community of astronomers has once again shown us just what they are capable of," he said.

"From stunning new takes on our own solar system to new views of our galaxy and the wider universe and poignant reflections of our place in the cosmos. The 2021 competition has once again upheld astrophotographers strive for excellence and innovation during an incredibly challenging year for the world."

A selection of the prize-winning and shortlisted images will be on display to the public at the museum in Greenwich, south east London, from this weekend.

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