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PHOTOS: Astronomy Photographer of the Year winners

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Royal Observatory unveiled the winners of its annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition

A vivid green overheaded aurrora pictured in Iceland's Vatnajokull National Park reflected almost symetrically in Jokulsrlon Glacier lagoon.

This image clearly depicts the well-known red glow that appears to come from being the horsehead, produced by hydrogen gas that has become ionized by neighbouring stars.

The Sun's boiling surface curves away beneath us in this evocative shot that conveys the scale and violence of our star.

The image is centred on NGC 1999 an area situated below Orion's Belt and oft overlooked due.

The crater Tycho although not the largest on the Moon, can still be seen easily on the Moon's surface, boasting a diameter of 86km.

'Calcium K' refers to a very specific wavelength of violent light emitted by calcium ions in extreme environments such as the Sun's atmosphere.

The Pleiades Cluster, to the right of the image, consists of arouind a thousand stars, which formed toether about 100 million year ago.

Many features of the Sun only beconme apparent during total eclipses, when the Moon blocks the dazzling birght star from our view.

Rock formation in the Wairarapa district of New Zeland create a stark foreground and contrast to the dusty clouds dancing acorss the Milky Way.

In 2012, O Chul Kwon succeeded in his goal of photographing a Venus- Lunar Occulation with this stunning time-lapse image over Mount Hamkaek in South Korea.

Poised on the brink of space, this astonishing shot shows the curvature of the Earth with the towering Rocky Mountains reduced to tiny wrinkles on the surface below.

Earth's nature and its satellite appear to have merged into one another in this image.

The diffrent colours tell us about what stage of life the stars are : hot blue stars are young whereas red stars are nearing the end of their lives.

Taken from Ranch Hidalgo in Animas New Mexico, NGC 3718 is found in the constellation of Uras Major and know as a peculiar barred spiral galaxy.

To the naked eye Mars looks like a red star, but with a large enough telescope and the appropriate image post-processing, the true face of the planet is revealed.

Resembling a giant eye looking across 700 light years of space, the Helix Nebula ia one of the closest planetarty nebula to Earth.

A fantastic view of one of nature's greatist spectacles, a total solar eclipse, taken from an airplane, 3200m above Turkana Kenya.

IC 1340 is part of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus at distance of about 1470 light years.

Taken in Australia near the town of Bungendore, this image captures the Capital Wind Farm on the shore of Lake George.

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PHOTOS: Astronomy Photographer of the Year winnersThe Royal Observatory unveiled the winners of its annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition

Bill Snyder

A British photographer is named Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

James Woodend wins the title over a thousand other amateur and professional photographers from around the globe.

The judges say they were mesmerized by Woodend's photo of a vivid green aurora dancing across the Icelandic night sky and reflected symmetrically in the glacial Jkulsarlon lagoon of Vatnajkull National Park.

Woodend's winning shot of the Northern Lights is the first time a picture of the auroras has won the Astronomy Photographer of the Year prize.

Other photos drawing praise from the judges include:

Astronomy Photographer of the Year is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and BBC Sky at Night Magazine. This is the 6th year for the competition. The competition received a record +2500 entries from 51 countries.

For information about entering next year's competition visit www.rmg.co.uk/astrophoto.

Scroll through the gallery above to see all the stunning photos from the contest.