A FULL moon rising over Melbourne's Williamstown dockyards has been unveiled as the winning image for this year's ninth Central West Astronomical Society's astrophotography competition, submitted by 35-year-old engineer Phil Hart.

The work, titled Melbourne Moon, was one of more than 50 works submitted by Australians country-wide to be judged in seven categories by world-renowned astrophotographer David Malin.

The winning image, Melbourne Moon, by Phil Hart, taken at the Williamstown dockyards.

It involved weeks of preparation for Hart, who has been capturing images of the night sky for almost 20 years.

''I had planned it in advance using an online application that allows you to show what direction moon rise and moon set and sunrise and sunset will occur, so I used that and knew the date that I needed to be there to see the full moon rising,'' Mr Hart said.