
The planets, stars and galaxies in the astronomical stretches of space that extend beyond Earth provide photographers with endless opportunities to take fascinating pictures.

Now a selection judged best to be the photographs of space taken this year have been revealed - as part of this year's Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

The overall winner was a picture captured by Yu Jun in China, showing the Baily's Beads effect during the total solar eclipse of 9 March 2016 captured from Luwuk, Indonesia.

The overall winner shows the Baily's Beads effect during the total solar eclipse of 9 March 2016 captured from Luwuk, Indonesia. As the moon passes in front of our star, the sun, the rugged surface of our natural satellite allows beads of sunlight to escape in some places and not in others

As the moon passes in front of our star, the sun, the rugged surface of our natural satellite allows beads of sunlight to escape in some places and not in others.

'This is such a visually striking image, with its succession of fiery arcs all perfectly balanced around the pitch black circle of totality,' said competition judge and Royal Observatory Public Astronomer, Dr Marek Kukula.

'It's even more impressive when you realise what it shows: the progress of a solar eclipse, all compressed into a single frame with consummate skill and precision.

'A tremendous achievement that pushes the boundaries of what modern astrophotography can achieve.'

As well as securing the £10,000 ($13,242) top prize, Yu Jun's image takes pride of place in the exhibition of winning photographs opening at the Royal Observatory Greenwich tomorrow.

Winner of the People & Space category. Star trails depicting the movement of the Earth, gently arc over the towering buildings peppered with neon signs and light pipes in the bustling Quarry Bay of Hong Kong. The light pollution in Hong Kong means that only a few stars are generally visible in the night sky making this photo even more impressive

Sir Patrick Moore prize for Best Newcomer. The Milky Way's satellite galaxy and close neighbour, the Large Magellanic Cloud, showcasing stars of all ages lying within its 14,000 lightyear diameter. The Large Magellanic Cloud can sometimes even be seen with the naked eye from the southern hemisphere, but resembles a faint cloud rather than a huge galaxy

This composite image compares the slitless spectroscopy of two planetary nebulae – the Cat’s Eye Nebula at the top, and the Ring Nebula below. Spectroscopy is used to analyse objects like stars and nebulae and involves splitting the light from an object into individual colours, just like when white light passes through a prism to form a rainbow

A Northern Light corona outburst taken directly beneath the vibrant emerald green whirlpool swirling in the sky in Sommarøya near Tromsø, Norway, on 15 March 2015

Winner of the Aurorae category. On the evening of the total solar eclipse in 20 March 2015, the people of Spitsbergen were treated to a second natural lightshow in the form of the Aurora Borealis. At the time the photograph was taken the sun was shining 9 degrees below the horizon, meaning it was evening nautical twilight on the shore of Greenland Sea

The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night Magazine, is now in its eighth year.

'Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 has received more outstanding pictures than ever before,' a spokesperson form the Royal Observatory Greenwich said.

This year the competition received a record number of over 4,500 spectacular entries from enthusiastic amateurs and professional photographers from over 80 countries.

Winners of other categories and special prizes include the touching scene of a Maasai warrior bestowing his knowledge of the stars on his son as they gaze up at the Milky Way by Robin Stuart from Kenya, which was Highly Commended in the People & Space category.

An astonishing picture of the Milky Way's satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, showcasing stars of all ages lying within its 14,000 light year diameter, from the camera of Carlos Fairbairn (Brazil), won him the Sir Patrick Moore prize for Best Newcomer.

The seemingly pop art inspired canvas of the rainbow of colours exhibited by the brightest star in our sky, Sirius, taken by Steve Brown from the UK won the Stars & Nebulae category.

The arresting sight of Comet Catalina hurtling through the night sky, leaving a dust trail in its wake, while a second tail of ionised gas emanates from its coma, shot by Gerald Rhemann from Austria was runner up in the Planets, Comets & Asteroids group.

Runner up of the Aurorae category. An unusual view of the aurora, simply in black and white, that turns the expectations of aurora photography on its head. The removal of the vivid colours so commonly associated with the Northern Lights emphasises the fluidity of the aurora and the stark contrast it forms against the night sky

ASTRONOMY PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night Magazine, is now in its eighth year. 'Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 has received more outstanding pictures than ever before,' a spokesperson form the Royal Observatory Greenwich said. This year the competition received a record number of over 4,500 spectacular entries from enthusiastic amateurs and professional photographers from over 80 countries. The winners of the competition's nine categories and two special prizes were announced on 15 September at a special award ceremony at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Advertisement

Winner of the Galaxies category. Discovered in 1781, Messier 94, or M94, is a distant spiral galaxy, that is notable for its two-ringed structure. At the centre of the structure the shimmering pinks of the inner ring show the hectic star forming activity leading to its sometimes being referred to as a starburst ring.

Runner up of the Galaxies category. One of the Milky Way's closet neighbours, the Small Magellanic Cloud, is seen on the left hand side of the image in a flurry of blues and pinks that illustrate the several hundred million stars contained within the dwarf galaxy. The globular cluster, 47 Tucanae, is seen glowing a vibrant orange, in the upper right corner of the photograph

Highly Commended in the Galaxies category. Taken over 6 months using 152 hours of data collected through the photographer's homebuilt telescope, the Antlia Galaxy Cluster is found the Southern Celestial hemisphere

Winner of the Moon category. An incredibly close-up view of the roughhewn lunar landscape littered with craters and craterlets largely forged by impacts from meteors and asteroids

Runner up of the Moon category. The often unnoticed ripples and shimmers of the Moon captured on film as it appears to rise through the sky. Here, the Moon is photographed at 98 per cent illumination and is beginning to wane

Highly Commended in the Moon category. The Full Moon glows a soothing yellow as it rises over the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier in Texas, US, almost appearing to hitch a ride on the ferris wheel

Runner up of the Our Sun category. A composite of 12 images taken during the total solar eclipse on 9 March 2016 from Tidore Island in Eastern Indonesia. Resembling tentacles, the blistering solar coronal structures reach out from the sun's surface with an average temperature of between one and three million kelvin

Highly commended in the Our Sun category. A tremendous filaprom extends from the surface of our star, the sun. Filaproms are large, gaseous features that can be partially seem over the Sun's disk as a filament, and they are known to reach lengths equal to 150 Earths aligned

Winner of the Planets, Comets & Asteroids category. The second largest planet in our solar system, the gas giant Saturn, taken on 18th March 2016. The photograph clearly depicts the planet's famed rings in great detail with striking contrast between each of them. Storms are visible across the face of the planet, as well as the mysterioous hexagon at the north pole

Runner up of the Planets, Comets & Asteroids category. Comet Catalina hurtles through the night sky, leaving a dust trail in its wake, which has undergone several disconnection events during its journey. A second tail of ionised gas emanates from its luminous blue coma, fading into the darkness from which the stars are gleaming out from

Highly Commended in the Planets, Comets & Asteroids category. Looming in the night sky, tempestuous storms are visible across the face of the largest planet in our Solar System, Jupiter. The Great Red Spot - a raging storm akin to a hurricane on Earth - stands out in a deep orange from the hues of browns surrounding it

Winner of the Stars & Nebulae category. The seemingly pop art inspired canvas of the rainbow of colours exhibited by the brightest star in our sky, Sirius. Sirius is often seen shining as a white star, but is also known to flash with hues of numerous colours, as a result of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere

Runner up of the Stars & Nebulae category. The Perseus Molecular Cloud lies 600 light years from our planet in the constellation of Perseus. Home to a large number of deep sky objects, the most famous of which is NGC1333 in the top right part of the image, radiating a vivid blue

Highly commended in the Stars & Nebulae category. Taken over 4 years, totaling 110 hours and comprising of 36 panes, this image showcases the summer skies as seen from the northern hemisphere. The photograph reveals intricate details of our galaxy, the Milky Way that would be invisible to the naked eye

Winne of the Skyscapes category. A misty morning in October on the Isle of Wight is the setting for this image resembling an eerie scene from a science fiction film. The obscuring weather actually accentuated the brightness of Venus and the crescent Moon and transformed them to appear as glowing orbs floating over the Ashey countryside

Runner up of the Skyscapes category. A close up view of the meteorological phenomenon of noctilucent clouds formed in the skies over Finland. Noctilucent clouds, also known as night clouds, are composed of crystals of water ice and are the highest clouds in Earth’s atmosphere, but they can only be viewed when the Sun is below the horizon but they are still in the sunlight

Highly commended in the Skyscapes category. Meteors blaze across the night sky as the Geminids reached their peak on 14th December 2015 in the Hebei Province, China. Over 100 meteors are featured soaring over the Guoshoujing LAMOST telescope of the National Astronomical Observatories of China in this composite image

Runner up of the People & Space category. A stargazer perches on the mountain known as Peña Muñana in Madrid, Spain. The photographer faced a challenge in getting his friend to reach the summit of the mountain at the right moment for this capture, a challenge that was heightened when it was discovered the friend had actually left his tripod at home

Highly commended in the People & Space category. The touching scene of a Maasai warrior bestowing his knowledge of the stars on his son as they gaze up at the Milky Way. The Maasai tribe use the stars to navigate across the east African plains in order to find new grazing grounds for their livestock

Winner of the Young Astronomer of the Year category. A truly innovative image of the moon that has been inverted to bring out the intricate details of the rugged, lunar landscape that we often miss in more traditional shots of our natural satellite

Runner up of the Young Astronomer of the Year category. A man stands on a hill on Canyon Lake, Arizona, silhouetted against a night sky that fades from the moody, blue light pollution seen on the right hand side to the darkness that hangs over the desert

Highly commended in the Young Astronomer of the Year category. The Aurora Borealis make a rare UK appearance in the skies over Cresswell Beach in Northumberland. The young photographer had seen the light display out of his house window, and convinced his mother to take him to the beach to capture the Northern Lights away from the light pollution

Highly commended in the Young Astronomer of the Year category. The International Space Station (ISS) appears to pierce a path across the radiant, concentric star trails seemingly spinning over the silhouettes of the trees in Harrogate, South Australia