"Scientist Trio Wins Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2023 with Groundbreaking Discovery"

Marcel Drechsler, Xavier Strottner, and Yann Sainty have been crowned the overall winners of the 15th Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition for their photograph "Andromeda, Unexpected," which reveals a colossal plasma arc near the Andromeda Galaxy. This discovery has sparked a global scientific collaboration as it may be the largest structure of its kind near our Milky Way. The competition also awarded winners in other categories, including the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year title to Chinese teenagers Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang for their photograph of The Running Chicken Nebula. The winning images will be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in London.