Astronomy Magazine Astrophotography Contest — Official Rules

1. Contest Organizer

The Astronomy Magazine Astrophotography Contest (“Contest”) is organized by Astronomy magazine, published by Firecrown Media Inc., 405 Cherry Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (“Organizer”). The Contest is presented in association with Celestron, Telescope Live, and other category sponsors. Category sponsors and prize suppliers are not responsible for administration of the Contest, including without limitation eligibility determinations, judging, winner selection, notification, or prize fulfillment, unless expressly stated otherwise in these Official Rules. The Organizer is solely responsible for administration of the Contest.

2. No Purchase Necessary

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. The Contest is free to enter; entry submission via the online form described in Section 6 is the sole method of entry, and no purchase, subscription, payment, or other consideration is required at any stage of entry, judging, or prize fulfillment. Void in any jurisdiction subject to comprehensive U.S. economic sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), including without limitation Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus; void to residents of any jurisdiction that prohibits or restricts participation in skill-based photography contests by law; void in any jurisdiction in which the Contest, or fulfillment of any prize, would require registration, bonding, licensing, translation, the appointment of a local representative, withholding or remittance of taxes, export-control licensing, or any other regulatory compliance obligation, unless the Organizer has elected, in its sole discretion, to satisfy that obligation; and void where otherwise prohibited or restricted by law.

3. Eligibility

The Contest is open to legal residents of any country, territory, or jurisdiction worldwide who, as of the Opening Date, are at least eighteen (18) years of age (or the age of majority in their country or jurisdiction of residence, whichever is greater), except as set out below. Entry by individuals under the age of majority in their country or jurisdiction of residence is permitted only for legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, subject to the additional requirements in the “Entrants under 18” paragraph below. The Contest is void to residents of any jurisdiction subject to comprehensive U.S. economic sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), including without limitation Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus; is void in any jurisdiction where participation in skill-based photography contests is prohibited or restricted by law; and is void in any jurisdiction in which the Contest, or fulfillment of any prize, would require registration, bonding, licensing, translation, the appointment of a local representative, withholding or remittance of taxes, export-control licensing, or any other regulatory compliance obligation, unless the Organizer has elected, in its sole discretion, to satisfy that obligation. Entrants are responsible for ensuring that their participation complies with all laws of their country or jurisdiction of residence.

Employees, officers, directors, agents, and representatives (and their immediate family members: spouse, parents, children, siblings, and household members, whether or not related) of the Organizer, Celestron, Telescope Live, other category sponsors, and each of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotional agencies, and prize suppliers are not eligible to enter.

Entrants under 18 (U.S. residents only): Legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are at least thirteen (13) years of age but under eighteen (18) years of age (or the age of majority in their state of residence, whichever is greater) may enter only with the verifiable written consent of a parent or legal guardian. Entry by individuals under the age of majority who reside outside the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia is not permitted, regardless of whether parental consent is provided. The parent or legal guardian must complete the consent step in the submission form on the entrant’s behalf, providing the parent’s or guardian’s name, email address, and electronic signature/check box confirmation, and confirming the parent’s or guardian’s email via a verification link and, by doing so, agrees to be bound by these Official Rules on the entrant’s behalf, including the publicity grant in Section 12(d). The Contest is not open to children under thirteen (13) years of age, and no personal information will be knowingly collected from anyone under thirteen.

4. Contest Period

The Contest opens at 12:00 a.m. EDT on May 15, 2026 (“Opening Date”) and closes at 12:00 a.m. EDT on June 23, 2026 (“Submission Deadline”).

5. Categories

Entries are accepted in the following categories:

(a) Deep Sky — Broadband Images of deep-sky objects — galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and other objects beyond our solar system — captured exclusively in broadband (white light, LRGB, or color), including images taken with one-shot color (OSC) cameras shooting unfiltered or with broadband filters. Objects within the solar system are not eligible for this category. Images that incorporate any narrowband-filtered exposures must be entered in the Deep Sky — Narrowband category.

(b) Deep Sky — Narrowband Images of deep-sky objects that incorporate any narrowband-filtered exposures, including but not limited to Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen-III, Sulfur-II, dual-narrowband, or equivalent emission-line filters. This includes filter combinations such as SHO, HαRGB, and HαLRGB. Images captured exclusively in broadband should be entered in the Deep Sky — Broadband category.

(c) Solar System Images of solar system objects including planets, moons, dwarf planets, comets, and asteroids. Lunar images are eligible for this category.

(d) Solar Imaging Images of the Sun, including surface detail, prominences, solar flares, and solar eclipses. All images must be captured using appropriate solar filtration or dedicated solar telescope equipment.

(e) Nightscapes Images in which the night or twilight sky forms a prominent compositional element alongside a terrestrial landscape, structure, or human subject. The sky must constitute a meaningful portion of the frame. Milky Way panoramas, star trail images, and aurora photographs with foreground are eligible.

(f) Smartscopes Images captured using a smart telescope or all-in-one computerized imaging device (e.g., Origin, ZWO Seestar, Unistellar, Vaonis, etc.). The in-device stacking and processing pipeline of the smart telescope counts as part of the entry. Post-processing in external software is permitted and must be disclosed. See Section 7 for AI policy applicable to this category.

(g) Processing Contest Images processed by the entrant from a designated astronomical dataset provided by Telescope Live. In this category, the entrant does not supply original raw data; the contest dataset is the source material and the entrant’s contribution is the processing workflow and creative choices applied to it. See Section 8 for additional rules governing this category.

(h) Newcomer Open to photographers who, as of the Opening Date, are either (i) a legal resident of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia and 17 years of age or younger, or (ii) at least eighteen (18) years of age (or the age of majority in their country or jurisdiction of residence) and have been practicing astrophotography for fewer than two years (i.e., began capturing astronomical images on or after May 15, 2024 — 2 years before Opening Date). Newcomer eligibility is self-declared at the time of entry and may be verified by the judging panel upon request. Newcomer entrants may also enter any of the general categories above; a Newcomer category entry must be submitted as a separate entry. Any astronomical subject is eligible.

6. How to Enter

During the Contest Period, visit Astronomy.com/photocontest and complete the online submission form. For each image submitted, the entrant must:

(a) Upload one image file meeting the technical requirements in Section 9;

(b) Provide an image title and the following submission information: (i) a description of the subject and any notable circumstances of the shoot; (ii) the capture location; (iii) the equipment used, including telescope or lens (make, model, aperture, and focal ratio), camera (make and model), mount, autoguider, and filters; and (iv) exposure details including total exposure time, sub-exposure length, ISO or gain setting, and number of frames stacked;

(c) Disclose all significant processing steps, including all software used and any machine learning tools applied (see Section 7);

(d) Select a single contest category for that image;

(e) Complete all required eligibility declarations.

Entry method: Online entry through the submission form is the only method of entry. The submission form is and will remain freely accessible throughout the Contest Period without any purchase, subscription, payment, or other consideration. The Organizer does not accept mailed, emailed, or hand-delivered entries.

Entry limit: Each entrant may submit a maximum of five (5) images in total across all categories. Each image may be entered in only one category. A Newcomer category entry and a general category entry of the same image count as separate submissions toward this limit. Multiple entries from the same entrant beyond this limit will be disqualified. Any attempt by an entrant to submit entries using multiple email addresses, identities, or accounts is grounds for disqualification.

Group entries: An image produced collaboratively by two or more photographers may be entered. One person must be designated as the lead entrant. The lead entrant is responsible for ensuring all contributors have reviewed and accepted these Official Rules and consent to the license described in Section 12.

7. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Policy

The following rules apply to all categories except the Processing Contest (see Section 8):

(a) Permitted tools: Processing software that applies transformations to data captured by the entrant — including stacking, stretching, noise reduction, gradient removal, color calibration, sharpening, and deconvolution — is permitted. Machine learning–based tools used to reduce noise or remove stars from captured data (e.g., Topaz DeNoise AI, StarNet++) are permitted but must be disclosed in the processing description.

(b) Prohibited: Generative AI tools or features that add, create, or synthesize image data not present in the original capture are prohibited. This includes tools that fabricate stars, nebulosity, color gradients, or other astronomical or terrestrial features. Entries that incorporate any AI-generated image data are ineligible and will be disqualified.

(c) Smartscopes: Smart telescopes with integrated stacking engines are permitted in all categories; the Smartscopes category is limited to such devices. Entrants must identify the device model and describe any additional post-processing. Where a device offers a setting that applies generative synthesis beyond live stacking, that feature should be disabled. If it cannot be disabled, entrants must disclose its use; the judges may consider this in their evaluation.

(d) Declaration required: All machine learning and AI tools used in processing must be disclosed in the submission form. Failure to disclose AI or machine learning tools may result in disqualification for misrepresentation, regardless of whether those tools would have been permitted.

8. Processing Contest — Additional Rules (Telescope Live Dataset)

(a) The designated contest dataset will be made available to registrants at https://tlive.click/rcw38 beginning May 15, 2026.

(b) Entrants in this category must process only the data in the designated dataset. No additional astronomical data from other sources may be incorporated into the entry.

(c) All image requirements in Section 9 and the AI policy in Section 7 apply to this category. Generative AI tools that synthesize data not present in the provided dataset are prohibited.

(d) Copyright in the final processed image belongs to the entrant, subject to any terms Telescope Live imposes on use of its data. By entering this category, the entrant confirms they have reviewed and accepted Telescope Live’s applicable terms of service. The Organizer bears no responsibility for any conflict between an entrant’s use of Telescope Live data and those terms.

(e) The submission form must include a complete description of the entrant’s processing workflow.

9. Image Requirements

(a) Ownership and originality. The entrant must be the sole copyright owner of the submitted image, or the authorized representative of all copyright holders in the case of a group entry. Images must be the entrant’s original work and may not incorporate third-party copyrighted material (photographs, illustrations, text) without express written authorization from the rights holder.

(b) Prior publication and awards. Images that have previously won a prize in another photography competition are not eligible. Images that have been featured as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) are not eligible. Images previously published in any competing print or digital astronomy publication are not eligible. For purposes of this subsection, “published” does not include posting on the entrant’s personal website, personal blog, or personal social media account.

(c) Capture date. Images must have been captured in whole, or in substantial part (more than 50% of the data used), on or after January 1, 2025.

(d) No embedded visual identifiers. Submitted image files must not include watermarks, copyright notices, logos, or the photographer’s name or contact information embedded within the image itself. Standard capture metadata (EXIF, FITS headers) is acceptable.

(e) Technical specifications:

  • Accepted file formats: JPEG, TIFF, or PNG

10. Judging

(a) Panel. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of judges appointed by the Organizer. The panel will include astrophotographers, Astronomy magazine editors, and professionals with expertise in visual arts.

(b) Criteria. Judges will evaluate entries based on factors including but not limited to:

  • Technical quality of the capture and processing
  • Artistic composition and visual impact
  • Originality and creative approach
  • Scientific interest of the subject

(c) Finality. All judging decisions are final and binding. No correspondence will be entered into regarding individual entries, shortlist decisions, or prize outcomes.

(d) Discretion. The judging panel reserves the right to decline to award a prize in any category if, in their collective judgment, entries in that category do not meet an appropriate standard of quality.

(e) Voting. Any public or subscriber voting component, if used, may be used for promotional, engagement, or non-binding advisory purposes only, unless the Organizer publishes supplemental voting rules before voting begins. Public or subscriber votes do not bind the judging panel and do not determine prize awards except as expressly set out in supplemental voting rules.

11. Prizes

(a) Grand Prize / Best Overall:

  • Celestron RASA 8 telescope (ARV: $2199)

(b) Category Winners (one per general category, Sections 5a–5e):

  • Deep-sky — Broadband: ToupTek Astro StellaVita Wireless Astrophotography Controller; ARV $339
  • Deep-sky — Narrowband: Chroma Technology voucher to use on an item of winner’s choice; ARV $1,175
  • Solar System Objects: QHYCCD QHY5III585M camera; ARV $399
  • Solar Imaging: Sky-Watcher USA Solarquest Mount; ARV $499
  • Nightscapes: Simulation Curriculum SkySafari / Starry Night Professional Software Suite; ARV $360

(c) Category Runners-Up (one per general category):

  • Recognition in the December 2026 issue of Astronomy magazine

(d) Highly Commended (up to 5 per category, at judges’ discretion):

  • Recognition in the December 2026 issue of Astronomy magazine

(e) Smartscope Category Winner

  • Publication credit in the December 2026 issue of Astronomy magazine

(f) Processing Category Winner:

  • Publication credit in the December 2026 issue of Astronomy magazine

(g) Newcomer Category Winner:

  • Publication credit in the December 2026 issue of Astronomy magazine

Prize conditions:

  • Prizes are non-transferable. No cash equivalent will be substituted for any prize except at the Organizer’s sole discretion or as required by law.
  • The Organizer reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater retail value if any stated prize becomes unavailable.
  • International winners: For winners residing outside the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, the Organizer reserves sole discretion to (i) ship the stated prize to the winner’s address, (ii) substitute a prize of equal or greater retail value that can be delivered in the winner’s jurisdiction, or (iii) pay the winner the U.S. dollar approximate retail value (ARV) of the prize by international wire transfer or equivalent method, less any applicable withholding. All import duties, customs charges, value-added tax (VAT), goods and services tax (GST), and any other import-related taxes or fees are the sole responsibility of the winner.
  • Unlawful or impracticable fulfillment: If, in the Organizer’s reasonable judgment, fulfillment of a prize by any of the methods set out in this Section 11 would (a) violate U.S. export controls, U.S. economic sanctions, or any other U.S. federal, state, or local law; (b) violate any law, regulation, sanction, or other legal restriction applicable in the winner’s country or jurisdiction of residence, or in any jurisdiction through which the prize would be shipped or paid; (c) require any license, permit, registration, bond, or governmental approval that the Organizer is unable to obtain on commercially reasonable terms; or (d) be impracticable due to circumstances outside the Organizer’s reasonable control (including without limitation force majeure events, sanctions or trade actions imposed after the Submission Deadline, the unavailability of payment, banking, or shipping channels, or the winner’s inability or refusal to complete required tax or eligibility documentation within fourteen (14) days of notification), then, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Organizer may, in its sole discretion and without liability to the winner or any other person, (1) defer fulfillment until the impediment is removed, (2) forfeit the prize and select an alternate winner from the remaining eligible entries under Section 13(c), or (3) elect not to award the prize at all. The Organizer’s exercise of any option under this paragraph will not entitle the affected winner to any cash payment, substitute prize, or other compensation. Nothing in this paragraph limits any right, remedy, or protection that, under mandatory law applicable to the entrant, may not be waived by agreement.
  • All applicable federal, state, local, and foreign taxes are the responsibility of the winner. Prizes valued at $600 or more awarded to U.S. winners will require a Form 1099 filing. Prizes awarded to non-U.S. winners may be subject to U.S. nonresident withholding under IRS Form 1042-S, and winners may be required to complete IRS Form W-8BEN or equivalent before prize fulfillment.
  • For group entries, the lead entrant is responsible for equitable distribution of any shared prize among contributors.
  • Total approximate retail value of all prizes combined: $4,971.
  • The Organizer may, in its discretion, add additional prizes or designate prizes for additional categories before the Submission Deadline, provided that any such addition is disclosed in an updated version of these Official Rules and does not materially alter the method of entry, eligibility requirements, judging criteria, or previously announced prize awards. The total approximate retail value of all prizes will not exceed $5,000 unless the Organizer first satisfies any applicable registration, bonding, or filing requirements.

12. Rights and License

(a) Entrants retain copyright. Submitting an entry does not transfer ownership of the image or its copyright to the Organizer. Entrants remain free to license their images for other purposes, subject to the restrictions in this section.

(b) License to Organizer. By submitting an entry, each entrant (and, for group entries, all contributing copyright holders) grants the Organizer a non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, worldwide license to:

  1. Use the image for contest evaluation and judging, including any public or subscriber voting component;
  2. Publish the image in the December 2026 print and digital editions of Astronomy magazine, in any archive or anthology edition of that issue, and in any future issue in connection with the photo contest;
  3. Display the image on Astronomy.com and the Organizer’s social media channels in connection with promotion of the Contest and the December 2026 issue;
  4. Include the image in contest-related promotional and marketing materials in any medium;
  5. Display the image in any exhibition organized or co-organized by the Organizer in connection with this Contest.

Credit will be given to the photographer (or team name) in all licensed uses wherever practicable.

(c) Optional broader license. Entrants may optionally, via a checkbox on the submission form, submit their images to Astronomy‘s Reader Gallery. This grants the Organizer a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use submitted images in any issue of Astronomy magazine, on Astronomy.com (including the Picture of the Day feature), and in promotional materials — beyond the contest-specific uses described in subsection (b). This opt-in is not required to enter or compete. See Astronomy‘s photo submission guidelines at https://www.astronomy.com/photo-submission-guidelines/ for more information on how reader images are used.

(d) Publicity grant. Except where prohibited by law, by entering the Contest each entrant grants the Organizer and its designees the right to use the entrant’s name, photograph (the submitted image), voice (if any voice recording is submitted), home city and state, province, or country, biographical information, and statements about the Contest, in any media now known or later developed, for advertising, promotion, and publicity purposes in connection with the Contest and the Organizer’s publications, without further notice, review, approval, or compensation. Residents of Tennessee, New York, California, and other states with statutory rights of publicity retain any rights granted by those statutes that may not be waived by these Official Rules. Winners may be required to confirm this grant by signing the publicity release referenced in Section 13(c).

(e) Embargo period. Entrants whose images are shortlisted agree not to grant an exclusive license on their shortlisted image(s) to any competing astronomy or astrophotography publication for a period of [90] days following the public announcement of winners. This restriction does not limit the entrant’s right to sell, publish, or license their image in any other way.

13. Winner Notification and Announcement

(a) Winners will be announced on or before October 23, 2026 at Astronomy.com. A list of winners will also be available for ninety (90) days after the public announcement by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Firecrown Media Inc., Attn: Astrophotography Contest Winners List, 405 Cherry Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. Vermont residents may omit return postage. Requestors residing outside the United States may submit a self-addressed envelope without return postage, in which case the Organizer will return the winners list by email to an address provided by the requestor.

(b) Potential winners will be notified by email to the address provided at registration before the public announcement. All Contest notifications, required documentation, and communications from the Organizer will be conducted in the English language. Any translation provided by the Organizer or its designees is for convenience only; the English-language version controls.

(c) Potential winners may be required to sign and return, within fourteen (14) days of notification, (i) for U.S. winners, an Affidavit of Eligibility (sworn or notarized as the Organizer may reasonably require), a publicity release, and a Release of Liability; or (ii) for non-U.S. winners, an equivalent Declaration of Eligibility (signed under penalty of perjury or by witnessed signature, as the Organizer may reasonably require), a publicity release, and a Release of Liability, together with any tax or beneficial-ownership documentation reasonably required for prize fulfillment (including, where applicable, IRS Form W-8BEN or equivalent). In the event of non-compliance, including failure to return required documentation within the fourteen (14)-day period, an alternate winner may be selected from remaining eligible entries at the Organizer’s discretion, and the original potential winner will forfeit the prize without any right to compensation. The Organizer reserves the right to require any potential winner to provide a copy of a government-issued photo identification (such as a passport, driver’s license, or national identity card) to verify identity, age, and country of residence. The Organizer will handle any such identification document in accordance with the Firecrown Media Privacy Policy and will retain it only as long as reasonably necessary to verify eligibility and complete prize fulfillment. In the event of non-compliance, an alternate winner may be selected from remaining eligible entries at the Organizer’s discretion.

14. Privacy and Data Use

(a) Information collected. To administer the Contest, the Organizer collects from each entrant: name, email address, mailing address (for prize fulfillment if selected), date of birth or age confirmation, state, province, or country of residence, capture location of the submitted image, equipment and processing information, and the submitted image itself together with associated metadata. For entrants under 18, the Organizer also collects the name and contact information of the parent or legal guardian providing consent.

(b) Use. The Organizer uses entrant information to administer the Contest, verify eligibility, communicate with entrants about their entries, award and fulfill prizes, report tax information where required, and publish the names and home cities and states, provinces, or countries of winners and shortlisted entrants. Entrant information is not sold. Equipment, location, and processing information submitted with an entry may be published alongside the image in connection with the licensed uses described in Section 12.

(c) Marketing. Entrants are not required to opt in to marketing communications as a condition of entry. Where the submission form offers a separate, optional opt-in for Astronomy magazine newsletters or related communications, that opt-in is voluntary and may be withdrawn at any time.

(d) Privacy policy. All personal information collected in connection with the Contest is handled in accordance with the Firecrown Media Privacy Policy, available at https://firecrown.com/privacy-policy/, which is incorporated by reference into these Official Rules. The Organizer is established in the United States, and personal information collected from entrants will be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States. The privacy and data-handling practices applicable to the Contest are governed by United States federal law and the law of the State of Tennessee, except to the extent that the mandatory data-protection law of an entrant’s country or jurisdiction of residence (including without limitation the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulations, the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, the India Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the Brazil Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados, the South Africa Protection of Personal Information Act, the People’s Republic of China Personal Information Protection Law, and equivalent comprehensive data-protection laws) applies and may not be waived by agreement, in which case the Organizer will comply with that mandatory law to the minimum extent required.

(e) State and international privacy rights. Residents of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Utah, and other U.S. states with comprehensive consumer privacy laws have certain rights regarding their personal information, including the rights to access, correct, delete, and (where applicable) opt out of certain processing. Where required by applicable mandatory law, residents of the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland may exercise rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and equivalent laws, which may include the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and to object to processing; residents of India may exercise rights under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which may include rights of access, correction, and erasure; and residents of other jurisdictions may exercise analogous rights to the extent and on the terms required by their local mandatory law.

Cross-border transfer acknowledgment. By submitting an entry, each entrant expressly acknowledges and consents that the entrant’s personal information will be transferred from the entrant’s country of residence to the United States and may be further transferred to service providers acting on the Organizer’s behalf in the United States and other jurisdictions. Entrants understand that the United States and other recipient jurisdictions may not provide a level of data protection equivalent to that of the entrant’s country of residence, and that the legal mechanisms protecting such transfers may include the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, the United Kingdom International Data Transfer Agreement (or addendum to the SCCs), the EU–U.S. Data Privacy Framework (and its UK and Swiss extensions) where the Organizer is or becomes certified, India DPDP cross-border transfer mechanisms, and equivalent mechanisms under other applicable laws. Where required by law, the Organizer relies on one or more of the foregoing mechanisms to support such transfers. To exercise these rights, follow the instructions in the Firecrown Media Privacy Policy.

(f) Minors. Entry by individuals under the age of majority is permitted only for legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, ages 13 through 17, and only with the verifiable consent of a parent or legal guardian. The Contest is not directed to children under 13, and no personal information is knowingly collected from anyone under 13. The Contest is not open to non-U.S. residents under the age of majority in their country or jurisdiction of residence, and the Organizer does not knowingly collect personal information from such individuals. If the Organizer learns that information from an ineligible minor has been collected, that information will be deleted and the related entry disqualified.

15. General Conditions

(a) Technical responsibility. The Organizer is not responsible for lost, corrupted, delayed, incomplete, or misdirected submissions. Proof of transmission does not constitute proof of receipt. The Organizer does not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted, or error-free access to the submission platform.

(b) Disqualification. The Organizer reserves the right to disqualify any entry that, in its reasonable judgment, violates these rules or involves misrepresentation of capture conditions, processing, or equipment.

(c) Right to modify or cancel. The Organizer reserves the right to modify, suspend, or cancel the Contest at any time in response to circumstances outside its reasonable control (including but not limited to force majeure events, acts of government, or technical failures that cannot be remediated). In the event of cancellation, prizes will not be awarded.

16. Limitation of Liability

(a) Released Parties. For purposes of this Section, the “Released Parties” means the Organizer, Celestron, Telescope Live, all other category sponsors and prize suppliers, and each of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotional agencies, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, and representatives.

(b) Release. By entering the Contest, each entrant releases and agrees to hold harmless the Released Parties from and against any claim, injury, loss, damage, cost, or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to the entrant’s participation in the Contest; the entrant’s submission, including any claim that the submission infringes any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, right of privacy, or other right of any third party; the acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of any prize; or any travel related to the Contest or prize fulfillment. This release does not apply to claims arising from the Released Parties’ gross negligence, willful misconduct, or fraud, and does not waive any right that may not be waived under applicable state law.

(c) Indemnification. Each entrant agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Released Parties from any third-party claim arising out of the entrant’s breach of these Official Rules or any representation or warranty the entrant makes in connection with entry, including without limitation claims of copyright infringement or breach of any third-party license (including Telescope Live dataset terms in the case of Processing Contest entries).

(c-1) Sanctions and trade-control warranty. By entering, each entrant represents and warrants that the entrant is not (i) named on, or owned 50% or more by any person named on, any sanctions list maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, His Majesty’s Treasury (United Kingdom), or any other relevant sanctions authority; (ii) located, organized, or resident in any jurisdiction listed in Section 2 of these Official Rules; or (iii) entering on behalf of, for the benefit of, or with the intent to transfer any prize to, any such person or jurisdiction. Breach of this warranty entitles the Organizer to disqualify the entry, forfeit any prize, and reclaim the retail value of any prize already delivered.

(d) Technical and administrative limits. The Released Parties are not responsible for: lost, stolen, late, misdirected, incomplete, garbled, or undeliverable entries or communications; technical failures of the submission platform, telecommunications networks, or computer systems; printing, typographical, or human error in the administration of the Contest; or any cause beyond the Released Parties’ reasonable control. Proof of submission or transmission does not constitute proof of receipt.

(e) Aggregate cap. In no event will the Released Parties’ aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Contest exceed the actual retail value of the prize the entrant is otherwise entitled to receive, or, where no prize is at issue, one hundred U.S. dollars (US$100). Nothing in this Section limits, excludes, or modifies any liability that cannot be limited, excluded, or modified under any law applicable to the entrant, including without limitation the laws of New Jersey and any mandatory consumer-protection law of the entrant’s country or jurisdiction of residence.

(f) Class action waiver. Each entrant agrees that any claim arising out of or relating to the Contest will be brought solely in the entrant’s individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

17. Governing Law and Disputes

These Official Rules and any dispute arising from or relating to the Contest are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Each entrant irrevocably consents to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the state and federal courts located in Hamilton County, Tennessee for resolution of any such dispute, and waives any objection to such jurisdiction or venue on the grounds of inconvenience or otherwise. Notwithstanding the foregoing, where an entrant is a consumer resident in a country or jurisdiction whose mandatory consumer-protection law (i) confers a non-waivable right to bring proceedings in the courts of the entrant’s place of residence, or (ii) requires the application of that jurisdiction’s law to consumer disputes, nothing in these Official Rules will deprive the entrant of that right or the protection of those mandatory provisions.

If any provision of these Official Rules is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect, and the invalid or unenforceable provision will be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to render it enforceable while preserving its original intent to the greatest extent permitted by law.

Nothing in these Official Rules limits or excludes any right, remedy, or protection that, under the law of an entrant’s state of residence, may not be waived by agreement.

18. Contact

Questions about these Official Rules may be directed to:

Firecrown Media Inc. Attn: Astrophotography Contest, 405 Cherry Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402 astronomyeditorial@astronomy.com

Submission of an entry constitutes the entrant’s acknowledgment that they have read, understood, and agreed to these Official Rules in their entirety.

Organized by Astronomy magazine, published by Firecrown Media Inc., 405 Cherry Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402.