A ghostly supernova remnant in Cepheus takes top honors among more than 1,400 entries.

| Published: October 23, 2026

Dark nebulae loom over glowing filaments of supernova remnant SNR G110.3+11.3. The image won the grand prize in Astronomy’s 2026 Astrophotography Contest. Credit: Julien De Winter; Landon Boehm; Brian Diaz

Astronomy magazine is proud to announce the winners of its 2026 Astrophotography Contest, presented by Celestron — the magazine’s first photo contest in 13 years.

More than 1,400 entries poured in from photographers around the world, with images ranging from faint nebulae and stunning planetary close-ups to dramatic solar images and beautiful nightscapes. As astroimaging has grown more advanced since our last photo contest, it has also become more accessible, and this year we strove to open the contest to as many imagers as possible. The Smartscopes category let imagers using all-in-one devices compete on a level playing field.…