I think a good astrophoto is one that has a story to tell. It might be a scientific story, an image of colliding galaxies or something like that. It might be a story about how the image was made, about the place that you were in when you were taking it or what that image means to you. I think a good astrophoto tells you that story and it frames the objects that it's including in an interesting way. It's very easy to just take a picture of the moon with the moon in the centre of a black field. Maybe a really good picture does something slightly different. The things that I'm looking for in a good astrophoto have actually changed over the years that I've been judging the competition. I'm a scientist and so I do like photos that tell a really strong science story. But now I've come to really appreciate images that are very very beautiful and creative. So now my ideal astrophoto is one that combines science and beauty in the same picture. Just whatever grabs you, that's why it's so exciting in the moments building up to the competition, not knowing what you're going to see, not knowing what amazing leap the set of images are taking in the next year. One of the most important things for astrophotographers who want to stand out is if they are photographing a family object to perhaps photograph it in a different way, have a different approach, show their originality, show a little bit of their personality in the shot. An artistic image will give you a feeling. It will really be drawn into the shot. And that's one of the things which I try to use to make my final decisions. If it's given me that little bit of emotional kick as well as being technically brilliant, then that's the one that will win for me. I think there's always a fine balance that has to be struck in this. But there is definitely something I've been looking for which is compositional, artistic, something which should be proud to have on your wall. And something which certainly does give you a feeling and a sense of where our place within the universe itself. .