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Our judging panel is made up of 5 expert judges, each with an interest in astronomy photography.
Chrysa Avdellidou is a Lecturer in Planetary Science in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. She obtained her degree in Physics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and her PhD from the University of Kent (UK). Her research focuses on the characterisation of the physical properties of asteroids and the impact processes that break them apart to form families of collisional fragments. She also studies the outcomes of asteroid and meteoroid impacts on the Moon and Phobos.
She participates in space missions to the moons of terrestrial planets, including Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) and the LUMIO CubeSat mission. Her research employs multidisciplinary approaches, combining laboratory experiments with spectroscopic observations.
As a university student, she developed a strong interest in astrophotography, which she never fully pursued due to her move to the UK, leaving her telescope behind in Greece under much clearer skies.
David Kaplan is a Professor of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (USA). He obtained a BS degree from Cornell University, and a PhD from California Institute of Technology. His research focuses on observations of compact objects (black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs) and finding transient radio sources using new surveys.
As a university student, he led weekly public viewing nights at the campus observatory, and has had a strong engagement in public outreach ever since. While his home in Milwaukee does not lend itself to astrophotography, he tries to get out to dark sky locations as often as possible.
Claudia Maraston is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Portsmouth and serves on the Editorial Board of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Her field of research is galaxy formation and evolution, with particular focus on interpretative models for a galaxy spectral energy distribution and their application to observational data. Maraston has co-authored over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and is in the top 1000 physicists and female scientists in 2022, 23 and 25 (from Research.com). She is the recipient of the 2018 Eddington medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for ‘work of outstanding merit in theoretical astrophysics’, being the 2nd woman to receive the medal since the beginning of the award in 1953. Her outreach and public engagement activities granted her the 2024 UK SEPnet award for Science Communication, and the 2022 Soroptimist award for being a role model for females in STEM. Her interest in astronomy photography lies on its aesthetic side and its power at triggering imagination and for its impact on arts, music and communication.
J-P Metsavainio is an astrophotographer and visual artist based in Oulu, Finland. For nearly three decades, he has worked under the extreme conditions of the northern sky, developing long-term photographic projects in which scientific observation serves as the foundation for artistic expression. His work has been widely published and exhibited internationally across both artistic and scientific contexts. Though presented as art, the images are constructed entirely from real astronomical light and record the structures of the deep sky with scientific fidelity. Through this slow and disciplined process, Metsävainio invites viewers to encounter the universe as a physical and emotional experience — vast, layered, and revealed gradually through time and light.
Mike Peel is a postdoc at Imperial College London working on Cosmic Microwave Background experiments. He has also been a Wikipedia editor for over 20 years, having uploaded over 100,000 photos to Wikimedia Commons that are viewed millions of times each month in Wikipedia articles, as well as judging Wikimedia photography competitions and being involved in Wikimedia Commons’ Quality Images process. He has been engaged with Wikimedia’s governance for many years, and is currently an RAS Councillor.
