Key points
- The David Malin Awards celebrate some of the finest astrophotography images in the world, captured by Australians.
- The 2026 David Malin judging panel examined more than 200 entries to identify winners across seven categories.
- You can see the winning images at CSIRO's Parkes Observatory Visitors Centre.
Astrophotography takes time, patience and dedication. The David Malin Awards are an annual astrophotography competition open to Australian residents. Images are judged on technical skills, but the panel also look for an aesthetically pleasing picture that reflects and captures the beauty, inspiration and interest of astronomy.
Named after David Malin, the world's pre-eminent astronomical photographer, the winning images reveal some spectacular objects in our Universe.
The Lunar Apennines
The overall winner was The Lunar Apennines by Stefan Buda, which was captured with a DIY 405mm aperture Dall-Kirkham telescope in November 2025. Stefan also took out the top prize for the Solar System category.
Comet 2025 R3 PANSTARRS
But the Solar System is big enough for more, with Murray Parkinson receiving an honourable mention in this category for Comet 2025 R3 PANSTARRS.
The telescopic image of C/2025 R3 PANSTARRS was created from 45 x 1-minute exposures aligned on the stars and the comet separately. The two images were recombined to produce an image without the comet or stars trailing.
The Rippling Flames-Chamaeleon III
The Rippling Flames-Chamaeleon III by Andy Campbell was the Deep Sky winner, which captured the Chamaeleon molecular cloud complex around 450 to 600 light-years away.
God's Hand
God's Hand by Frank Alvaro received an honourable mention in the Deep Sky category and reveals a star-forming region located in the Puppis constellation, about 1,300 light-years from Earth.
It’s one of several objects referred to as ‘cometary globules’ because its shape is similar to that of a comet.
The Dividing Line
In the Wide-Field category, images are typically constellations or scenes rather than deep sky objects. The Dividing Line by Jarrod Koh was the winner there, with an image that captures two very different structures within the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex: the bright reflection nebula M78 and the dark nebula LDN 1622.
The region contains numerous embedded protostars, Herbig-Haro objects, and active star-forming material, making it one of the most studied reflection nebulae in Orion. And now it can add "award-winning model" into that mix.
Zenith
The Nightscapes category went to Zenith by Brighton Seeley for an eight-photo mosaic of aurora. It was captured in a remote location which took some trudging through bush to access, but Brighton says it was worth it – it’s one of the 6000-plus images he took.
The Wishing Tree
Luke Rasmussen’s The Wishing Tree was awarded a Nightscapes honourable mention. His image of an overhead Corona during a G5 Aurora Australis was taken on Southern Bruny Island, Tasmania.
The Boogeyman Nebula
Charlie Marzolla was the winner in the Junior category (18 years or younger) with The Boogeyman Nebula, an image of an incredibly faint, dark nebula located inside the Orion Cloud Complex. It was captured over 28 hours.
You can view all the winning photos on the David Malin Awards website or in-person at our Parkes Observatory Visitors Centre, where they’ll be displayed for six months.