Blazing Bristlecone



In the White mountains of California, an ancient bristlecone pine stands before the Milky Way as a meteor streaks through the night sky. The pine is the middle tree in the picture.



The red glow on the tree in the foreground is serendipitous, created unintentionally as the photographer, Tom Lowe, set up his equipment. It's an accident that paid off: this picture won the Earth and Space category, and was announced overall winner, too.



(Image: Tom Lowe)

Surrounded by Space



The Northern Lights are a beguilingly beautiful natural light show, the result of interactions between solar winds and the Earth's magnetic field. However, the exact cause of the mesmerising glows remains something of a mystery.



This picture, taken by Fredrik Broms, shows the Northern Lights seen looking up through the trees of the boreal forest on the island of Kvaløya, Norway. It was highly commended in the Earth and Space category.



(Image: Fredrik Broms) Advertisement

Orion Deep Wide Field



Orion is probably one of the best-known constellations in our night sky – but this picture, taken by Rogelio Bernal Andreo, shows it as few will have seen it before. As a result, it was crowned winner of the Deep Space category.



The panorama shows Orion's belt clearly – it's the three bright stars on the left of the picture. But you can also see the Horsehead nebula and the Orion nebula.



These clouds of gas, dust and other materials are slowly cooling and condensing – and may eventually form new stars and planets.



(Image: Rogelio Bernal Andreo)

The Veil Nebula



This photograph by Martin Pugh shows the Veil nebula, in the constellation Cygnus, which is the faint remnant of a supernova that exploded over 5000 years ago.



When the supernova exploded, the mass of expanding gases would probably have appeared as bright in the sky as a crescent moon – easily visible with the naked eye.



Now it's notoriously difficult to capture an image of the Veil, so enjoy it while you can. The judges certainly did – this photograph was declared runner-up in the Deep Space category.



(Image: Martin Pugh)

Siberian Totality



Watching a total eclipse of the sun is a majestic, stirring experience – and a rare one at that.



But when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, we're not plunged into complete darkness. This picture, taken by Anthony Ayiomamitis, shows the activity stretching out beyond the surface of the sun – known as the coronoa – in all its glory. It was declared winner of the Our Solar System category.



This haze around the sun is actually made up of jets called spicules, which are about 500 kilometres across and up to several thousand kilometres high.



(Image: Anthony Ayiomamitis)

The Green Visitor



Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where it was discovered, came within 38 million miles of Earth last year.



Richard Higby took this picture of the comet as it passed by on what was probably its first trip into our solar system – and the judges highly commended the result in the Our Solar System category.



Its green tinge comes from the gases that make up its surrounding "atmosphere" – which is thought to be around the same size as Jupiter.



(Image: Richard Higby)