Photographer's Profile

Alpha Zhang

China

Alpha Zhang (Shaoyu Zhang) is a Shanghai-based deep-sky astrophotography artist whose practice connects astronomical observation, data processing, and contemporary image-making. Since 2014, he has developed long-duration projects using remote observatories in China and Chile, often combining broadband and multi-line narrowband data to reveal structures beyond unaided vision. His work spans planetary nebulae, supernova remnants, dark molecular clouds, galactic fields, and large mosaics. Zhang's photographs have been recognized by Royal Museums Greenwich's Astronomy Photographer of the Year, NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, and DarkSky International's Capture the Dark. Breathing Vela SNR received first place in Capture the Dark's Deep Sky category in 2025, and four of his works were shortlisted for Astronomy Photographer of the Year 17. His images have been exhibited and published in China and internationally. He writes on deep-sky imaging for Chinese National Astronomy and works to bring astronomical photography into a broader public and artistic context. His ongoing observational research includes identifying and reporting the planetary-nebula candidates AZ1 and AZ2, now recorded in the HASH Planetary Nebula Database. Across his artistic and observational work, he approaches image processing as a form of sustained inquiry: a way to test what can be recovered from faint signals, what must remain uncertain, and how scientific evidence can become a public visual experience without losing its physical origin. He lives and works in Shanghai.