Sponsored by Beijing Planetarium, the 2021 Astronomy Photographer Competition (the Competition for short) has kicked off and will last through May 16. The Competition is open to contributions from all astronomy and photography enthusiasts.  

The Competition is set to comprise six themes, i.e. the Beauty of Night, the Starry Sky in the City, the Spectacular Astronomical Phenomena, the Sun, Moon, and Planets, the Mysterious Universe, and Time-lapse Photography VCR. A "Mobile Astronomical Photography" unit is also set to solicit contributions from astronomical photography fans who take pictures with mobile phones. 

Eligible entries shall be pictures taken from January 1, 2020 to May 13, 2021. The competition rejects contributions already submitted for the competition last year while entries of other photography contests are welcomed. Six pieces of works at most are allowed for each of the participants in the Competition. Essential and proper post-processing is accepted without violating the scientific rules, but the shooting methods and post-processing techniques must be specified in the registration form. The expert panel will render an opinion on whether or not the post-processing to a picture is reasonable, according to Beijing Planetarium.  

The first, second and thrid places will be respectively voted and recognized in each of the six themed units and the special competition unit. The grand champion for the Competition will be finally voted from the champions of the six themed competitions, and will then be invited to sit on the evaluation panel of the next competition.

 (Note: Content source is from Beijing Daily.)