A Royal Observatory Greenwich contest recently highlighted stunning photographs from the night sky and beyond the solar system. Among the prize-winning images was a striking view of the Shark Nebula, which earned the top honor in the observatory’s 18th ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest. The winning image, titled "The Quiet Predator," was taken by amateur skywatcher Ali Alobaidly from Kuwait in August 2025. The image captures the Shark Nebula (LDN 1235), a distant cloud of gas located about 650 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cepheus, also known as the Whale. Alobaidly used specialized equipment, including a telescope, camera, and mount, to capture the nebula over two days. The winning photo, along with other contest winners, will be displayed at London’s National Maritime Museum starting September 18, with Alobaidly receiving a prize of £10,000. Other notable entries included a vivid image of the northern lights, or aurorae, titled "The Crown" by Radoslav Sviretsov of Bulgaria. The photo was taken in Iceland, where the lack of light pollution allowed the aurora to shine brightly above a small church. Another winning image, "Venusian Pearl on the Moon" by Petr Horalek of the Czech Republic, captured a rare celestial event when Venus passed in front of the moon on September 19, 2025. The image shows Venus as a bright "pearl" on the edge of the moon’s surface. The contest also featured images of our sun, planets, and galaxies. Miguel Claro of Portugal won in the "Our Sun" category with a photo of an active region on the sun's surface, revealing superheated gas and bright spots. Tom Williams of the U.K. captured "Saturnian Equinox," a rare event where Saturn’s rings appear edge-on from Earth. Meanwhile, Stefano Pellegrini of Italy won the "Skyscapes" category with a psychedelic-looking image of star trails over Botswana’s Nxai Pan, a location known for its unique landscape of large baobab trees. In the "Galaxies" category, Chinese photographers 智鹏 严 and Xinran Li captured NGC 4753, a galaxy located about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Their image highlights the galaxy’s intricate network of dust lanes swirling around its glowing core. The contest showcased a wide range of celestial wonders, from our solar system to distant galaxies, celebrating the beauty of the universe through the lens of amateur astronomers.