A shark-shaped cloud of gas in space has become the quiet predator of the night sky. That image, captured by Kuwaiti skywatcher Ali Alobaidly, won the top prize in the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s 18th ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest. The contest honors amateur photographers who turn distant objects into something a viewer can sit with.
The image has been named “The Quiet Predator,” and it captures the Shark Nebula, also known as LDN 1235. This nebula rests some 650 light-years from Earth within the constellation Cepheus, which is sometimes called the Whale. To put that distance in perspective, the closest star system to our own planet is only around 4 light-years distant.
The man from the Jahra district in Kuwait captured the prize shot across two days in August 2025. His gear included an Askar 140 APO telescope paired with a Sky-Watcher EQ8-R mount and a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera.
Announcement Date
Thursday marked the announcement of the contest’s winners, with the overall image taking top honors (Sept. 17). Alobaidly came away with a prize of 10,000 British pounds, which works out to about $13,300. The category winners and runners-up each collected various smaller cash prizes.
“The juxtaposition of an oceanic predator, prowling the skies above the Kuwaiti desert, is something I find deeply poetic, and it is what first drew me to this remarkable region of the sky.”
In a statement, Alobaidly explained that the nebula stands for his passion for both the universe and the deserts of his forebears. Along with 10 other category winners, his work is set to go on display at the National Maritime Museum in London beginning Friday (Sept. 18).
Nebula Winner and Equipment
A cloud of gas shaped like a shark gives its name to the quiet predator. The neighborhood where Alobaidly’s image shows the Shark Nebula (LDN 1235) as a dark shape against the stars of Cepheus. The nebula sits roughly 650 light-years from Earth, which puts it within the Milky Way’ sits is its own small region.
His gear came together piece by piece: a Sky-Watcher EQ8-R mount held the telescope firm as the world spun beneath it, and a ZWO ASI2600MM Pro camera caught the dim light that gave the image its detail. It took two days in August 2025 to gather enough data for the prize.
Aurora Crown and Moon Pearl
Radoslav Sviretsov of Bulgaria won the aurora category with his image “The Crown,”. It shows a strong northern lights display above a small church situated between Keflavík and Reykjavík, Iceland. The spot sits far from any artificial lighting, keeping the night sky dark and full of life.
Live Science has featured several of Petr Horalek’s incredible images before, so he’s no stranger to astrophotography. His winning entry, “Venusian Pearl on the Moon,” places him among the top picks for Our Moon. Horalek comes from Czechia, and his prize-winning photograph captures a rare sight: on Sept. 19, 2025, the moon moved across Venus as seen from certain spots on Earth.
The people who made the judgment about the observatory said “The most beautiful moment was when Venus had just started to disappear behind the crescent. It looked like a bright pearl on the lunar limb,”.
Sun, Planets and Petroglyphs
The Our Sun category winner is “Active Region 4122,” by Miguel Claro of Portugal. Claro, a frequent contributor to Space.com, a sister site of Live Science, used a new dual-band telescope to capture the sun’s photosphere, or visible surface layer. His work shows convection cells, superheated gas or plasma regions on the sun, as well as bright spots between these regions.
Max Inwood of Aotearoa/New Zealand took the People and Space category prize with his entry “A Message from the Ancients,”. His work centers on petroglyphs, ancient rock art, found in California’s desert. The image features a petroglyph thought to represent the 13 full moons that Earth typically sees in a year.
The Planets, Comets & Asteroids category winner is “Saturnian Equinox,” by Tom Williams of the U.K. Saturn’s rings appear edge-on from the perspective of Earth in this 2025 image showing a rare event during the planet’s near-30-year circuit of the sun. Williams’ photo displays “the start of local spring in the planet’s southern hemisphere,” observatory representatives stated.
Star Trails and Dust Lanes
The Skyscapes category winner is “Botswana Star Trail,” by Stefano Pellegrini of Italy. This image was captured in Botswana in a location called Nxai Pan, which has large baobab trees. “Pellegrini played with the exposure and saturation, resulting in this almost psychedelic image,” observatory representatives said.
The Galaxies category winner is “NGC 4753: A Symphony of Dust Lanes in Virgo,” by 智鹏 严 and Xinran Li of China. This image, taken in Chile, showcases NGC 4753, a galaxy roughly 60 million light-years from our planet, in the constellation Virgo. The photo highlights a striking network of dust lanes swirling around its luminous core.
Display Schedule
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Honorees announced | Thursday, Sept. 17 |
| Display opens at National Maritime Museum | Friday, Sept. 18 |
Prize Details
| Prize | Winner | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Overall winner | Ali Alobaidly | £10,000 |
| Category winners and runners-up | Varies | Various smaller cash prizes |
What the Winners Show
A separate prize goes to each part of the night sky. One group watches Earth’s own atmosphere for its aurora display. Another group turns toward the moon, our nearest neighbor in space. A third group fixes on the sun, the star that governs our days.
This section of the gallery covers human history through the People and Space category. The Planets, Comets & Asteroids category takes viewers on a journey through the solar system. The Skyscapes category makes the ground beneath the scene an integral part of the picture. The Galaxies category goes far beyond our own galaxy to reach deep into the universe.
Alobaidly’s quote about deserts and ancestors turns a nebula into a family heirloom. Sviretsov’s crown and Horalek’s pearl each give the sky a human scale.
Claro’s sun and Inwood’s petroglyphs bring people into the frame. Williams’ Saturn and Pellegrini’s Nxai Pan show the same sky across different worlds. The galaxy winners, 智鹏 严 and Xinran Li, look outward to distant reaches of the universe.
Starting Friday, visitors to the National Maritime Museum can see all four works displayed together: the quiet predator, the crown, the pearl, and the star trail.
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