Amazing Space Photos: Royal Observatory's Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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Earth And Space: Guiding Light to the Star

Credit: Mark Gee | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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 this image by Mark Gee, who won the 2013 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest by the Royal Observatory Greenwich. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Earth And Space: Green Energy

Credit: Fredrik Broms | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

The shifting lights of the Aurora Borealis can take on many shapes and forms as they are moulded by the Earth’s complex magnetic field. Sheets and planes of glowing gas appear to be twisted into a giant vortex above Grøtfjord in Norway. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Earth and Space: A Quadruple Lunar Halo

Credit: Dani Caxete| The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

This quadruple lunar halo was taken by Dani Caxete for the astronomy photographer of the year 2013 exhibition at the royal observatory greenwich. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Earth And Space: Icy Visitor

Credit: Fredrik Broms | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

Like the snowy mountains in the foreground, the nucleus of Comet Panstarrs is composed largely of ice and rock. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Earth And Space: Snowy Range Perseid Meteor Shower

Credit: David Kingham | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

The photographer has combined 23 individual stills to convey the excitement and dynamism of this natural firework display. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Deep Space: Celestial Impasto

Credit: Adam Block | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

Over just a few thousand years the fierce radiation from the stars in this nebula will erode the surrounding clouds of dust and gas, radically altering its appearance. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Deep Space: Rho Ophiuchi and Antares Nebulae

Credit: Tom O’Donoghue | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Deep Space: M81 – 82 and Integrated Flux Nebula

Credit: Ivan Eder | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

Lying at a distance of twelve million light years from Earth, M81 and M82 are galaxies with a difference. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Deep Space: Omega Centauri

Credit: Ignacio Diaz Bobillo | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Deep Space: Floating Metropolis – NGC 253

Credit: Michael Sidonio | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Our Solar System: Corona Composite of 2012: Australian Totality

Credit: Man-To Hui | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

A natural dimming of the Sun’s blinding brightness, courtesy of the Moon, reveals the ghostly glow of gas that has a temperature of one million degrees Celsius. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Our Solar System: Magnetic Maelstrom

Credit: Alan Friedman | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

The darkest patches or ‘umbrae’ in this image are each about the size of Earth, with the entire region of magnetic turmoil spanning the diameter of ten Earths. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Our Solar System: Cosmic Alignment Comet Lemmon, GC 47 Tucanae, and the SMC

Credit: Ignacio Diaz Bobillo | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Our Solar System: Ring of Fire Sequence

Credit: Jia Hao | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. This composite shot shows the progress of an annular eclipse in May 2013. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Our Solar System: Saturn at Opposition System

Credit: Damian Peach | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

This incredibly sharp portrait brilliantly captures the jewel of our solar system, revealing the subtle banding around the orb that results from the planet’s weather. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Young Astronomy Photographer: The Milky Way Galaxy

Credit: Jacob Marchio | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

This young astrophotographer has focused on one of the most spectacular vistas looking towards the very centre of the galaxy, capturing the glow of tens of billions of stars painting streaks of light across the sky. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Young Astronomy Photographer: The Waxing Crescent Moon

Credit: Jacob Marchio | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Young Astronomy Photographer: The Windows District

Credit: Eric Dewar | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

By keeping the camera shutter open this young photographer gathers precious light, making the desert scenery seem as bright as day. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Young Astronomy Photographer: Goodbye Sun, Hello Moon

Credit: Ariana Bernal | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

The awesome scale presented in this image depicts what as far as we’re concerned, are the three most significant objects in the Universe. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Young Astronomy Photographer: The Great Nebula

Credit: Samuel Copley | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. [Read the Full Story Here]

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People And Space: Hi. Hello

Credit: Ben Canales | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

Appearing like a column of smoke rising from the horizon, a dark lane of dust marks the plane of the Milky Way in this photograph. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Best Newcomer: Venus Transit, Foxhunter’s Grave, Welsh Highlands

Credit: Sam Cornwell | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

For those lucky enough to see it, the transit of Venus was one of the astronomical highlights of 2012. [Read the Full Story Here]

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Robotic Scope: The Trapezium Cluster and Surrounding Nebulae

Credit: László Francsics | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

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. [Read the Full Story Here]