The most beautiful astronomy photos, two Italians among the winners

What interests us most, however, is the Italian participation, which sees the young Daniele Borsari win in the novice category, under 15 years old, with his black and white photo of the Orion region.

In the Moon category, Marcella Giulia Pace wins with a photo as strange as it is fascinating, "The Imprint of Refraction." Pace had the intuition to photograph a very thin crescent moon, almost a sign in the sky, one after the other as it rises, reddened as the moon always does when it's very low on the horizon. Thus, several red arcs of circumference can be glimpsed, with the first ones, lowest on the horizon, distorted downwards by the refraction that alters the light coming from our satellite, as it sometimes does to the light of the sun we see sinking into the sea at sunset.

"I was in front of my house, near Modica, Sicily, with the view of the purple Ionian Sea below, and I wanted to photograph the Moon, how its shape changes as it rises above the horizon," says Marcella Pace. One shouldn't think she's a huge fan of astronomy, which she obviously knows and appreciates, but this is part of her more general interest in the Moon, atmospheric phenomena such as refraction, halos, and the contact of light with the atmosphere in general. The Moon is the most fascinating celestial body, as demonstrated by the many poems dedicated to it in every literature; it can be seen now during the day and then at night, only to disappear for a few days. It also fascinates children who ask a thousand questions of Marcella, who is an elementary school teacher in her hometown, after having taught for years in Trentino, a region that has remained close to her heart.

She reveals how she manages to take such strange and fascinating photographs by talking about her fascination, ever since she was a child, with the world around us, from the ant building its house to the shooting star. The enchantment, as the winner uses the term, continues thanks to a middle school teacher and the purchase of her first film camera, which, though limited in performance, nevertheless enabled her to learn.

With digital, everything becomes easier because you can experiment, and the Moon, which continually changes color, is still the ideal object. Color is captivating in all her photos, which can be found, divided into separate chapters, on her website "greenflash.photo." It's definitely worth a visit to understand the spirit that drives this sky photographer and has earned her other prestigious awards in the past, including international ones. Also exceptional is the photo, found on the website, of the many colors the Moon can assume: a spiral of images collected over ten years of observing our beautiful satellite. A love that feels candid and perhaps even naive, which leads her to respect every form of nature and the environment, feelings she also tries to instill in her teachings to her fortunate students.

The prize is now a beautiful exhibition on display in Greenwich, in the halls of the Maritime Museum, featuring flaming galaxies, colorful aurora borealis, planets and stars, nebulae and comets, the Sun and Moon, and even a photograph taken by NASA astronaut Don Pettit. Earth from orbit was taken during ISS Expedition 72. This is a unique exhibition created by the International Space Station (ISS) using a homemade star tracker built by the astronaut. Pettit returned to Earth in mid-April 2025, after a seven-month mission, and opened a new category for astrophotography: photos from space, but for now, it's not for everyone.