A Turkish man’s stunning photo of solar flares wins the Astronomy Photography Award. A Turkish man named Mehmet Ergün has won the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year award for his stunning images of solar flares. The photo, titled “Great Solar Flare,” was taken on September 4, 2022 with the H-Alpha Solar Telescope in Trisen, Germany. In this image, the Sun is nearing its maximum cycle and a large solar flare can be seen. These flares are sudden bursts of magnetic energy on the Sun’s surface and can be very large. According to the photographer, the length of this flare is about 700,000 km, and the diameter of the Earth is about 12,700 km. The Royal Museums Greenwich, which organizes the annual competition, shared the winning image on its official Instagram account and announced it as the People’s Choice winner. Mehmet Ergün thanked everyone who voted for his photo and said that their support made his dream come true. Additionally, a photo entitled ‘A Rocky Rise’, which captured a full moon rising over Church Rock in Broadhaven, Pembrokeshire, won second place in the competition.