Gaze In Wonder at the Best Astronomy Photographs of the Year

After decant over a record 1,700 entries , the Royal Observatory has announced the achiever of its annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year rivalry . Without a doubt , these are some of the most awe - inspiring infinite - themed image we ’ve ever seen .

Top image : “ Lost Souls ” by Julie Fletcher . The picture was a runner up in the People and Space class .

Aurora Over a Glacier Lagoon, James Woodend, UK

This is the winner of the Earth and Space category .

The pallid - light-green lambency of the dayspring come from oxygen particle high in the atmosphere , energized by subatomic particles blasted out by the Sun . The particles are funnelled down towards the due north and south pole by the Earth ’s magnetic field , which is why these salient light shows are so often juxtaposed with the wintry scenery of the Arctic and Antarctic regions . Here the lensman has skilfully captured the delicate , icy colouration of land , piddle and sky .

Wind Farm Star Trails, Matt James, Australia

Runner up in the Earth and Space category .

A monochrome penning with striking graphic qualities , this is a picture of effort . It demonstrate the might of the wind together with the apparent movement of the sky : the rotation of the Earth turns the trail into a shower of mavin . Like a moment of hush trance in the otherwise shifting surroundings , one of the wind turbine has remained unchanging . Its sharply defined steel stand out among the dandelion - alike shapes of the others .

Moon Balloon, Patrick Cullis, USA

This extremely commended photo was

taken from a high - altitude balloon , 26,500 m above and west of Denver , Colorado , after being launched from Boulder . The Moon only became seeable when the balloon had empty the bright fog of our atmosphere and enter the thin air of the stratosphere .

Venus — Lunar Occultation, O Chul Kwon, S. Korea

A extremely commended photograph in the Earth and Space family .

Using High Dynamic Range ( HDR ) the photographer balance the brightness of the rising Moon and much more remote satellite Venus , to show us what happens when they amount to the same unmistakable position in the sky . Venus is temporarily obscure from view by our nigh neighbour , only to re - go forth in less than one 60 minutes . This underscore the comparatively quick apparent motion of the Moon through our skies as it makes its 27.3 - mean solar day orbit around the Earth . Such spectacular occultations can be picture from somewhere on Earth several prison term a yr but careful planning is require to photograph them .

Totality From Above the Clouds, Catalin Beldea, Romania

Another highly remember photo

A total solar eclipse is one of nature ’s greatest spectacles so it is no wonder that many people will go to extreme lengths just to experience one . Down on the ground the menstruation of totality , when the Moon completely blocks the Sun , live for just a few minute . sorry weather can altogether bust up your chances of date it . This is where a planer can add up in handy : you could fly above the clouds and chase the Moon ’s shadow as it races across the Earth .

Ripples in a Pond, Alexandra Hart, UK

This is the winner of the Our Solar System category .

The Sun ’s stewing surface curves away beneath us in this reminiscent barb , which powerfully channel the exfoliation and fierceness of our parent star . The tortured neighborhood of solar bodily process on the left could withdraw   up the Earth several times with room to spare . The photographer ’s comparison with stones dropped into a pond is an apt one : the Sun ’s outer layers do indeed behave like a fluid , but one that is constantly twisted and falsify by intense magnetic forces .

Best of the Craters, George Tarsoudis, Greece

Runner up Our Solar System .

The word ‘ crater ’ was first coined in the 17th one C by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei . He derived it from ‘ krater ’ , the Ancient Hellenic terminal figure for a vessel used for mix water and wine . Formed by meteorite impacts over billions of years , these bowl - influence lunar features are typically named after scientist , artists and adventurer . The central superlative of the large crater featured here believably shape when the rocks of the crater floor rebounded now after it was formed .

Calcium K Eruption, Stephen Ramsden, USA

Highly commended in Our Solar System . That branched solar prominence measures 800,000 international nautical mile ( 1.3 million kilometer ) .

‘ Calcium K ’ denote to a very specific wavelength of purplish lighting emitted by calcium ion in extreme environments such the Sun ’s atmosphere . By imaging the Sun only in this very narrow colour range , stargazer can isolate evidence of extreme events , such as this colossal protrusion heighten off the solar surface .

Diamond and Rubies, Tunç Tezel, Turkey

extremely remember in Our Solar System .

Many feature of the Sun only become apparent during a total occultation , when the Moon obstruct the dazzlingly brilliant solar disc from view . Here we see the Sun ’s out ambiance , or corona , as a diffuse lily-white haze . nearer in , the bed of the Sun ’s air sleep with as the chromosphere appear in the red luminousness of hydrogen . The photographer has pick up the moment when a midget part of the Sun ’s disc shine out between the mountains on the edge of the Moon , creating an effect known as the ‘ ball field anchor ring ’ .

Horsehead Nebula, Bill Snyder, USA

Winner of the Deep Space category .

The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most - photograph objects in the night sky , but   this amazing image bring home the bacon in showing it in   a mark - new luminance . Rather than focalize only on   the ignominious silhouette of the Atlantic moonfish itself , the photographer draws the eye down to the creased and fold landscape of gas and dust at its base ,   and across to the glowing cavity surrounding a bright star . By pushing the compositional boundaries of astrophotography , this image flesh out our position and tells a new tale about a familiar object .

Helix Nebula, David Fitz-Henry, Australia

Runner up in the Deep Space family .

look like a giant eye peering across 700 lite years of blank space , the Helix Nebula is one of the penny-pinching planetary nebulae to the Earth , and one of the well - study . This extremely accomplished persona break delicate particular in the glowing flatulence that makes up the nebula , including the pollywog - like ‘ cometary burl ’ which seem to drop back from the inner edge of the gaseous anchor ring . The ‘ promontory ’ of each air mile is around the size of it of our solar system of rules .

California vs Pleiades, Rogelio Bernal Andreo, USA

extremely commend , Deep Space .

Known since ancient times as the Seven Sisters , the Pleiades Cluster , to the right of this image , actually consist of around a thousand stars which form together about 100 million years ago . The Pleiades are a recurrent favourite of unskilled astronomer and astrophotographers , but this strange thought shows the cluster in the all-inclusive context of its local environment , drifting through a chaotic realm of grim detritus . The California Nebula , name for its resemblance to the US state , is the swarm of glow H gas to the left wing of the image .

Veil Nebula Detail, J-P Metsävanio, Finland

The angular shapes and garish colour pallette supporter to convey the wild line of this gaseous structure , part of the junk of an set off principal , which blow up over 5000 years ago . The glowing relic is still expand , and the intact nebula now cross an sphere of the sky about 36 multiplication heavy than the full moonlight .

At the Feet of Orion — Full Field, Marco Lorenzi, Italy

Images like this one prompt us that there is often more going on in our wandflower than meets the eye , and that the outer space between the stars is seldom completely empty . The passing long 18 - time of day exposure brings out billowing dust and gas clouds that are normally overshadowed by their more glamourous neighbour at the top of the simulacrum , the bedazzle heart of the Orion Nebula . The strewing of smart low-spirited stars illuminate the dust , enabling us to see it .

The Horsehead Nebula, Shishir and Shashank Dholakia, USA — Age 15

achiever of the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year .

This is a brilliant icon of the Horsehead Nebula . It shows distinctly the well - know red lambency that appears to come from behind the moonfish . This glowing is grow by hydrogen gas that has been ionized by neighbor stars . The image draw particular attention to the cloud of heavy concentrated dust within the gymnastic horse ’s head . This is silhouetted against the reddish glow because it blocks so much of the light that is strain to get through .

Coastal Stairways, Chris Murphy, New Zealand

Winner of The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer .

‘ Deep prison term ’ seems to be the subliminal message of this temperamental scene , with each layer of the foreground rocks recording thousands of years of geologic history . Meanwhile , in the sky , time and distance are inextricably enlace , as the light from the wiz takes decennary , C or even millennia to reach us across the vast disconnect of place .

Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2, Eugen Kamenew, Germany

success of the People and Space category .

This rare example of a intercrossed solar eclipse begin at sunrise over the western Atlantic as an doughnut-shaped occultation , in which the Moon does not completely block the Sun , leaving a smart ringing or annulus uncovered . As the Moon ’s phantasm swept eastwards across the ocean , the eclipse became full , with the whole of the Sun concealed from view . By the time the eclipse pass on Kenya the Sun was once again emerging from behind the Moon , produce this spectacular crescent shape at sunset .

NGC 3718, Mark Hanson, USA

Winner of Robotic Scope .

The lensman order :

This is a very deep effigy of NGC 3718 , taken from the Doc Greiner Research Observatory ( DGRO ) , which is one of several outside observatories at Rancho Hidalgo , New Mexico . The luminance data was collected over two full nights of excellent seeing . Aladin Sky Atlas calculates over 5000 galaxies in this photo , down to twenty-fourth order of magnitude .

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About NGC :

Found in the configuration Ursa Major , [ it ] is know as a peculiar barred spiral Galax urceolata . Gravitational interaction with its near neighbor NGC 3729 ( the spiral galaxy below and to the left wing ) are the probable reason for the galaxy ’s significantly warped volute munition , while a dark dust lane wraps around the centre .

More atRoyal Museums Greenwhich .

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