5 Astronomy Picture of the Day awards you can win today
Nov 14, 2024
Soumyadeep Mukherjee
Soumyadeep Mukherjee is an award-winning astrophotographer from India. He has a doctorate degree in Linguistics. His work extends to the sub-genres of nightscape, deep sky, solar, lunar and optical phenomenon photography. He is also a photography educator and has conducted numerous workshops. His works have appeared in over 40 books & magazines including Astronomy, BBC Sky at Night, Sky & Telescope among others, and in various websites including National Geographic, NASA, Forbes. He was the first Indian to win “Astronomy Photographer of the Year” award in a major category.
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While most astrophotographers love to enjoy their passion for the night sky, it always feels good when a platform recognizes their images. This recognition not only inspires them to dive deeper into this beautiful world of astrophotography but also helps them to share their work with a larger audience. There are a few organizations that select “Astronomy Picture of the Day” or APODs for their platform dedicated to astrophotography and astrophotographers. (We even feature those monthly). While these platforms recognize some of the best astrophotography work created worldwide, they work as a source of inspiration for many. In this article, we discuss five award platforms and share how you can submit your images.
Table of contents
NASA APOD
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day is the OG and the most coveted APOD award worldwide. Curated by two NASA scientists, Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell, the platform has been showcasing the best instances of astrophotography since 1995. It is also one of the most popular and most visited astronomical image archives available online. It is also the only platform which showcases professional space and ground-based telescope images along with amateur astronomical images. If you submit your images here, remember that you will compete with the likes of Hubble and Webb Telescope images. This, along with the huge number of images submitted daily, makes the competition tough. This is probably the reason behind its prestigious status among astrophotographers.
You can submit your images via email to the editors. You can find all the details of the submission to NASA APOD here.
AAPOD2
Amateur Astronomy Photo of the Day every day. Run by two amateur astronomers, Charles Lillo and Jason Matter, it is a very popular and prestigious award. While the original AAPODx2 shut down, these two took up the task of curating and showcasing the best instances of amateur astrophotography since 2019. AAPOD2 also has a Facebook group that allows astrophotographers to share and showcase their images with like-minded people. Along with the daily awards, AAPOD2 also has monthly and yearly awards.
Submissions to AAPOD2 are done via a submission form on their website which you can access here.
Apod Astronomia
The Italian website Astronomia.com serves as a forum for scientists and amateur astronomers since 1997. APOD Astronomia is a long-running platform that showcases some of the best astro-images. The images are showcased on their website and social media platforms. Along with the daily award, one image is chosen as the “Image of the Month” from the pool of daily awarded images.
Submissions to APOD Astronomia are done on their website via a submission form.
Apod GrAG
The Italian group of amateur astronomers, Gruppo Astrofili Galileo Galilei or GrAG, showcases Astro Photo of the Day, known as Apod GrAG. Astrophotographers from around the world submit their images to this platform, and the best images are showcased on their website and social media handles. The platform is curated and managed by the amateur astronomers of this non-profit organization and serves as a wonderful platform for amateur astrophotographers. Along with their Apod award, they also run an OPOD award that recognizes some of the best and unique optical phenomenon photographs captured by amateurs.
You can submit your images to Apod GrAG via their submission form here. We suggest you go through the rules and regulations before you submit your images.
APOD Brasil
APOD Brasil is a newly formed platform for recognizing amateur astronomical images. Apod Brasil is a project of the Federal University of Technology – Paraná (UTFPR), and it is run by a team of astronomers and photography enthusiasts from six different countries. The goal of the platform is to inspire amateur astrophotographers and provide an informative experience. Apod Brasil began in June 2024 and is on its way to becoming a popular platform for astrophotographers.
You can submit your images to Apod Brasil via a submission form on their website.
We would highly recommend our readers to follow these platforms to enjoy the beauty of the cosmos and also to participate. Clear skies!
Soumyadeep Mukherjee
Soumyadeep Mukherjee is an award-winning astrophotographer from India. He has a doctorate degree in Linguistics. His work extends to the sub-genres of nightscape, deep sky, solar, lunar and optical phenomenon photography. He is also a photography educator and has conducted numerous workshops. His works have appeared in over 40 books & magazines including Astronomy, BBC Sky at Night, Sky & Telescope among others, and in various websites including National Geographic, NASA, Forbes. He was the first Indian to win “Astronomy Photographer of the Year” award in a major category.
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