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![<b>Guiding Light To The Stars (Australia)</b>]()
The skies of the Southern Hemisphere offer a rich variety of astronomical highlights. The central regions of the Milky Way Galaxy, 26,000 light years away, appear as a tangle of dust and stars in the central part of the image. Two even more distant objects are visible as smudges of light in the upper left of the picture. These are the Magellanic Clouds, two small satellite galaxies in orbit around the Milky Way. This photo was chosen as the overall winner.![<b>Snowy Range Perseid Meteor Shower (USA)</b>]()
A great deal of careful planning, a long night of photography and hours of painstaking image processing have gone into creating this startling composite image of the Perseid meteor shower. The Perseid meteors get their name from the constellation of Perseus from where they appear to come. However, even at the peak of the shower it is impossible to predict exactly when or where the next meteor will appear. The photographer has combined 23 individual stills to convey the excitement and dynamism of this natural firework display.![<b>Rho Ophiuchi and Antares Nebulae (Ireland)</b>]()
The smoky appearance of the dust clouds in this image is fitting, since the grains of dust which make up the nebula are similar in size to particles of smoke here on Earth. The dust can reflect the light of nearby stars, as seen in the blue and yellow regions. It can also block and absorb the light of more distant stars, appearing brown and black in this image. To the right a bright star is ionizing a cloud of hydrogen gas, causing it to glow red, while below it far in the distance, is a globular cluster containing thousands of stars.![<b>M81-82 and Integrated Flux Nebula (Hungary)</b>]()
Lying at a distance of twelve million light years from Earth, M81 and M82 are galaxies with a difference. Close encounters between the two objects have forced gas down into their central regions. In M81 this influx of gas is being devoured by a supermassive black hole. In neighbouring M82 the gas is fuelling a burst of new star formation which in turn is blasting clouds of hydrogen (shown in red) back out into space.![<b>Corona Composite of 2012: Australian Totality (China)</b>]()
This image is a demonstration of both precision timing and rigorous post-processing. It gives the viewer a window onto the elusive outer atmosphere of the Sun the corona. A natural dimming of the Suns blinding brightness, courtesy of the Moon, reveals the ghostly glow of gas that has a temperature of one million degrees Celsius. For centuries total solar eclipses were the only way to study this hidden treasure of the Sun. By photographing this event, the breathtaking experience of viewing a total solar eclipse is captured indefinitely.![<b>Ring of Fire Sequence (China)</b>]()
The Moon’s orbit about the Earth is not perfectly circular, so that at different times the Moon can be slightly closer or further away than usual. If the Moon passes in front of the Sun when it is at its furthest point, it will appear to be too small to entirely cover the solar disc. This is an ‘annular eclipse’ in which a ring, or annulus, of the Sun remains visible. This composite shot shows the progress of an annular eclipse in May 2013. Close to the horizon the distorting effects of Earth’s atmosphere can also be seen.![<b>Saturn at Opposition (UK)</b>]()
This incredibly sharp portrait brilliantly captures the jewel of our solar system, revealing the subtle banding around the orb that results from the planets weather. It also shows the exquisite gradation of brightness and colour in the planets rings. The ultra-faint inner D-Ring and outermost Encke gap are clearly visible. The hexagonal storm at the North Pole a scientific curiosity shows off three of its angular kinks. Images with this much clarity challenge our ideas of what can be achieved with amateur telescopes.![<b>Moon Silhouettes (Australia)</b>]()
This is a deceptively simple shot of figures silhouetted against a rising Moon. By photographing the people on the observation deck from a great distance, the photographer has emphasised their tiny scale compared to the grandeur of our natural satellite. Close to the horizon, Earthâs turbulent atmosphere blurs and softens the Moonâs outline and filters its normal cool grey tones into a warmer, yellow glow.![<b>Omega Centauri (Argentina)</b>]()
Omega Centauri is a globular cluster, a spherical cloud containing several million stars. As this image shows, the stars are more densely clustered towards the centre. The pronounced red colour of several of the stars gives away the clusters great age: it is thought to have been formed billions of years ago. The cluster was first noted by the astronomer Ptolemy almost 2000 years ago and catalogued by Astronomer Royal Edmond Halley in 1677.![<b>The Great Nebula (UK, aged 15)</b>]()
The Great Nebula, also referred to as The Orion Nebula and M42 is found in the well-known constellation of Orion, just below the hunters belt. To the naked eye the nebula looks like another star in Orions sword. However, this skilful young photographer has shown there is more to it than meets the eye by producing this beautiful image that not only shows the stunning formation of this popularly observed nebula but also it diffuse nature.![<b>The Windows District (Canada, aged 15)</b>]()
By keeping the camera shutter open this young photographer gathers precious light, making the desert scenery seem as bright as day. But the stars in the blue sky give the game away, showing that this dramatic photograph was actually taken in the middle of the night.![<b>The Trapezium Cluster and Surrounding Nebulae (Hungary)</b>]()
The great Orion Nebula is often described as a stellar nursery because of the huge number of stars which are being created within its clouds of dust and glowing gas. As dense clumps of gas collapse under their own gravity any remaining debris settles into a dark disc surrounding each newly-formed star. One of these protoplanetary discs can be seen silhouetted against the bright background of glowing gas in the central star cluster of this image. Within the disc, material will condense still further, as planets, moons, asteroids and comets begin to form around the star.![<b>Venus Transit, Foxhunters Grave, Welsh Highlands (UK)</b>]()
For those lucky enough to see it, the transit of Venus was one of the astronomical highlights of 2012. As the Planet took just six hours to cross the face of the Sun, cloudy weather was a potential disaster for observers the next transit will not take place until 2117. Here, the final moments of the transit are revealed by a chance gap in the clouds, allowing the photographer to capture the picture of a lifetime. Extreme care should always be taken when photographing the Sun as its heat and light can easily cause blindness and damage digital cameras. Specialist solar filters are available to allow photography and observations to be carried out safely.![<b>Goodbye Sun, Hello Moon (USA, aged 10)</b>]()
The awesome scale presented in this image depicts what as far as were concerned, are the three most significant objects in the Universe. The Sun and Moon each play an important role to us on Earth, and both are seen here, reddened by our vital atmosphere, presiding over the horizon. The third object is the Earth itself, and here its land, sea and sky meet around an amazing human megastructure, San Franciscos Golden Gate Bridge.![<b>Floating Metropolis -- NGC 253 (Australia)</b>]()
First discovered by astronomer Caroline Herschel in 1783, NGC 253 is a rare example of a starburst galaxy with new stars being formed at many times the rate in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Its mottled appearance comes from extensive lanes of dust which thread through the galactic disk. These are studded with many red clouds of ionized hydrogen gas, marking the sites where new stars are being born.![<b>Magnetic Maelstrom (USA)</b>]()
The darkest patches or âumbraeâ in this image are each about the size of Earth, with the entire region of magnetic turmoil spanning the diameter of ten Earths. This image captures rich details directly around the sunspots, and further out in the so-called âquietâ Sun where simmering hot plasma rises, cools and falls back. This produces a patchwork surface like a pot of boiling water, but on an epic scale â each bubbling granule is about the size of France.![<b>The Waxing Crescent Moon (USA, aged 14)</b>]()
The Moon seems to be emerging from the interplanetary darkness, and the young photographer has captured the contrast been the dark lava-filled lunar seas and the mountainous southern highlands.![<b>Cosmic Alignment Comet Lemmon, GC 47 Tucanae and the SMC (Argentina)</a>]()
At a glance, this image may seem like a post-processed montage of objects from three separate images. However the truth is that they were all captured together providing the viewer with an amazing view of the Solar System, galaxy and Universe. Comet Lemmon only comes into our neighbourhood every 11,000 years, racing around our Sun and back out to the far reaches of the Solar System. The light from the globular cluster in the centre of this image took a journey of over 16,000 years to reach Earth. The furthest object in the image is a dwarf galaxy called the Small Magellanic Cloud whose starlight takes 200,000 years to reach us.![<b>The Great Nebula (UK, aged 15)</b>]()
The Great Nebula, also referred to as The Orion Nebula and M42 is found in the well-known constellation of Orion, just below the hunter’s belt. To the naked eye the nebula looks like another star in Orion’s sword. However, this skilful young photographer has shown there is more to it than meets the eye by producing this beautiful image that not only shows the stunning formation of this popularly observed nebula but also it diffuse nature.Best astronomy photos of the year named
The results are in for the fifth annual search for Astronomy Photographer of the Year by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in New Zealand. More than 1,200 entries were submitted by photographers from all over the world, amateur and professional, in six different categories: Earth and Space, Deep Space, Our Solar System, Robotic Space, People and Space, The Sir Patrick Moore Prize For Best Newcomer and Young Astronomy Photographer. Here is a look at the out-of-this-world winners.
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- Best astronomy photos of the year named
