
They are images that remind us of our place in the universe - a tiny blue dot orbiting a star spiralling through a vast galaxy which is just one of millions spread out across space.

But they are also testament to the incredible beauty of the heavens around us, revealing nebula where stars are being born, comets racing through our solar system and the astounding rainbow of colours produced as the solar wind blasting our planets atmosphere.

These incredible pictures have been picked out as the winners of the prestigious Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

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The total solar eclipse in March this year was a captivating event for millions of people around the world where gaps in cloud over allowed a clear view, but for photographer Luc Jamet a trip to the remote valley of Sassendalen in Svalbard, Norway rewarded him with this image. It was judged to be the overall winner of the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2015 awards

The overall winner was a haunting, wintery scene in the remote valley of Sassendalen in Svalbard, Norway, which captured the moment of total solar eclipse earlier this year in all its glory.

The icy landscape enhances the eerie light creeping around the side of the moon as it passed in front of the sun in March this year.

It was an event watched by millions in the northern hemisphere, but few people will have enjoyed a view like the one photographed by Frenchman Luc Jamet.

He beat over 2,700 other amateur and professional photographers from around the world to be named as the overall winner of the competition.

A coincidental alignment shows the Comet C/2014 E2 Jacques travelling just below the Heart Nebula, which is 7,500 light years away, in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It was named as the winner of the planets, comets and asteroids category

A stunning skyscape showing the vast mass of nebulae, stars and gas clouds that form the Milky Way expanding over the peaks of the Hautes-Pyrenees in France was picked out as one of the highly commended images by the judges

Taken in Abisko National Park in Lapland, the photographer spent hours on top of a mountain hoping to capture a glimpse of the aurora, but after giving up and stumbling down the snowy hillside he spotted the lightshow above him to produce this winning shot

Dr Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, which organises the competition, said: 'The total solar eclipse was one of the astronomical highlights of the year and Luc Jamet has captured it perfectly.

'I love the way that the icy landscape of Svalbard reflects and intensifies the evocative colours of the sky – colours that only occur during the few minutes of totality, and which make any eclipse an unforgettable experience.'

The winning images in each of the 11 categories reveal many of the stunning features of our solar system and the universe around it.

Among them is a picture of Comet Lovejoy streaking in front of the stars in the night sky in a haze of green, taken by 15-year-old George Martin who won the prize for Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

A runner-up in the lunar category captured the International Space Station racing across the shadowy, rugged face of the moon (pictured)

British photographer David Tolliday was named Newcomer of the Year for this image of the Orion Nebula (pictured), which is 1,300 light years from Earth. It was his first attempt at astrophotography

Fifteen-year-old George Martin from the UK won Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year for this picture of Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy surrounded in a green haze (pictured) as it passed overhead in an event that will not be seen for another 8,000 years

HOW AND WHERE TO SEE THIS WEEKEND'S SUPERMOON ECLIPSE Sunday's supermoon eclipse will last 1 hour and 11 minutes. It will be visible to North and South America, Europe, Africa, and parts of West Asia and the eastern Pacific. Weather permitting, you can see the supermoon after nightfall, and the eclipse will cast it into shadow beginning at 8:11pm ET (1.11am BST). The eclipse will begin at 9:07 pm ET (2.07 am BST) on Sunday night, or Monday morning in the UK. According to Phil Plait's blog, Bad Astronomy, this is the time you'll start to see a dark 'bite' taken out of them moon on the part of it nearest the horizon. The moon will then spend just over an hour passing into the shadows, with the last sighting of it at 10:11 ET (3:11 BST). It will be illuminated once again at 11:23 ET (4.23 BST), and it will be completely out of Earth's shadow at 00:27 ET (5:27 am BST). Nasa is also providing a live stream from 8pm ET until at least 11:30 pm ET (4.30 am BST), broadcast from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The live feed is an alternative for those experiencing less-than-optimal weather or light-polluted night skies. No special equipment is needed, but binoculars may help you see the details. Advertisement

Another, commended by the judges in the same category, included a shot of the total solar eclipse over the North Atlantic ocean captured from a plane window at 37,000 feet by seven-year-old Philippe Rowland from the UK using the camera on his iPad.

A striking image of the Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery that lies 1,300 light years away, earned David Tolliday the prize for best newcomer. The image, taken from Elan Valley in Wales, was his first attempt at astrophotography.

Some of the images had more advanced assistance, however, with a striking image of Comet C/2013 in a close encounter with Mars being captured by Sebastian Voltmer, from Germany, using a robotic telescope in Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabaradran, New South Wales, Australia.

Normally seen as the brightest white star in the night sky, Sirius is also known to flash with hues of red, yellow, green and blue, as a result of turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere. By moving the camera the photographer has revealed Sirius’ continually shifting colours by causing the star to trace a long, twisting line (pictured), earning him a place as runner up in the stars and nebulae category

Russian photographer Yuri Zvezdny caputred the arc of the Milky Way over the Atacama Desert in Chile (pictured) as a lone astronomer basked in the glow of the stars below. This image was named runner up in the people and space category

Seven-year-old Philippe Rowland from the UK captured this stunning image of the total solar eclipse over the North Atlantic ocean while in an aircraft at 37,000 feet (11,275 metres) over the Faroe Islands using the camera on his iPad

The winner of the planets, comets and asteroids category showed another comet, this time CometC/2014 E2 Jacques, passing just below the Heart Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia.

While they appear in the picture to be passing each other, the comet is actually orbiting our own sun at a distance of a few million miles from Earth while the Herat Nebula is more than 7,500 light years away.

Another stunning picture in the category managed to capture two objects slightly closer to home – the enormous hulk of the moon sitting next to the distant spot of Mars.

The galaxy M33 (pictured), often called the Triangulum Galaxy after the constellation it can be found in, is the third largest member of the Local Group of galaxies behind the Andromeda Galaxy and our very own galaxy, the Milky Way. This image won the galaxies category

The Antennae Galaxies (pictured), captured using 75 hours of exposure over the course of 38 nights by Danish photographer Rolf Olsen, is a pair of colliding galaxies that resemble the head of an insect. This was named runner up in the galaxies category

This highly commended image shows the vast face of the moon beside the distant red planet of Mars on the left. Mars is in fact twice the size of the moon, but when observed from Earth appears much smaller

Although dwarfed by the lunar surface in the picture, Mars is actually twice the diameter of our moon.

The moon featured heavily in many of the entries, with an arresting shot of the lunar terminator - the division between light and dark - cutting it directly down the middle captured by Andras Papp from Hungary winning the lunar category.

Another image of the International Space Station crossing the face of the moon at around 18,000 mph (28,900km/h) was the runner up.

An enormous searing loop of hot plasma being ejected from the sun, captured by Paolo Porcellana from Italy, won the solar category, while another image which tracked the sun's movement across the sky of New Jersey in the US for six months came highly commended.

German photographer Sebastian Voltmer used a robotic telescope to capture Comet C/2013 A1 as it whizzed past Mars (pictured) in a close encounter at a speed of around 125,300 mph (201,651km/h) in October last year

Using a long exposure this image shows campers sheltering from the wind next to a stone cottage while a trail of torchlight shows hikers walking up Sunset Peak, the third highest mountain in Hong Kong as the stars leave a trail in the night's sky (pictured)

Perhaps some of the most striking images, however, are those that show the night's sky in the context of the land on which we stand.

A beautiful picture of the aurora captured from Abisko National Park in Lapland, Sweden by Australian photographer Jamen Percy, shows the amazing colours that can be produced when the the ions from the solar wind batter the Earth's outer atmosphere.

A commended image in the skyscapes category showed the Milky Way expanding over the peaks of the Hautes-Pyrenees in France, taken by British photographer Martin Campbell.

A massive, searing hot loop of plasma radiates from the edge of our the sun in this winning image from the sun category (left) while the face of the moon, half in shadow and half in light, took the top prize in the moon category (right)

An arresting image of the total solar eclipse (pictured) of 20 March 2015, captured from Svalbard, Norway moments after the sun had begun to emerge from behind the moon was picked as the runner up in the sun category

Chris Bramley, editor of BBC Sky at Night magazine, who was one of the judges in the competition, said: 'The quality of this year's field of over 2,700 images from across the globe meant that there was some lively debate over the judging.

'Each and every category contained images of a jaw-dropping standard.'

The winning images along with the runners up and those rated highly commended are now being shown in a special exhibition at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich until June next year.

A book featuring past winners of the competition along with those selected for this year’s awards has also been produced.

A phenomenal view of the huge expanse of the Orion complex (left) was captured by Irish photographers Tom O'Donoghue and Olly Penrice by stitching together 34 panes. It took 400 hours of exposure to achieve. A close-up view of our moon, which reveals the craters littering its surface, (right) was made with a mosaic of 16 separate frames

Taken on from Seaburn Beach in Sunderland (pictured), these noctilucent clouds - the highest in the Earth's atmosphere forming at more than 200,000 feet - produced a vibrant display as the ice crystals become illuminated in the twilight that was reflected in the wet sand