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| Winning Picture of Comet Leonard |
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| Selfie with Gerald Rhemann |
At the recent annual Day of Astrophotograhy, Gerald Rhemann gave a great lecture on Astrophotography and showing his amazing pictures. At the end of the presentation we met and took a selfie. Thx Gerald.
Gerald Rhemann has been named the overall winner of Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2022 for his photograph Disconnection Event.
The remarkable image shows Comet C/2021 A1, commonly known as Comet Leonard, which was first discovered in January 2021 by astronomer Greg Leonard. For many astrophotographers this comet was the highlight of the year.
However, it was Gerald Rhemann's photograph, taken on Christmas Day, that really blew the judges away.
Gerald's image captured a dramatic moment in the life of a comet: a disconnection event. This happens when a piece of the comet's tail becomes separated after being hit by high velocity solar particles.
"A piece of Comet Leonard’s tail was pinched off and carried away by the solar wind," Gerald recalls. "I was very lucky that the weather at Tivoli Farm, Namibia, was excellent when I opened the roof of the observatory. I recognized that the comet’s tail looked dramatic in the first image I took, so decided to extend the field of view with a second image and that’s where the disconnection happened."
