CNN —A photograph of a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, has won the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition for a team of amateur astronomers. A team of amateur astronomers, led by Marcel Drechsler from Germany and Xavier Strottner from France, discovered a previously unknown galactic nebula. Marcel DrechslerScientists are now investigating the large object, which is in the immediate vicinity of the Andromeda Galaxy, in a transnational collaboration, according to the observatory. The nebula is located in the Centaurus constellation, about 6,000 lights year away from Earth, according to the release. Two 14-year-old boys from China won Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year for their image of The Running Chicken Nebula.

---

Persons: Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner, Yann Sainty, ”, astrophotographer, —, Runwei Xu, Binyu Wang, Yuri Beletsky, Monika Deviat, Ethan Chappel, Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau, John White, Chandra, Katherine Gazzard Organizations: CNN, Andromeda, Observatory Greenwich, Young, China, Young Astronomy, Sun, Perseus, Art, Royal Museums Greenwich, Maritime Museum Locations: Germany, France, China