The most magical views of space, from the Milky Way over British landmarks to far flung nebulae: Stellar images of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition



Run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the winner of the competition will be announced on 18 September

The images show the British landmarks of Durdle Door in Dorset and the Pennines in a new light

Judges received over 1,200 entries from amateur and professional photographers across the globe


An image of Venus crossing the sun over the Black Sea in Romania and astral clouds of rose-coloured gas revealing star formations in distant galaxies are just two of the incredible images shortlisted for the 2013 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

The competition, which is now in its fifth year, is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with Sky at Night Magazine.

It received a record number of over 1,200 entries from enthusiastic amateurs and professional photographers from around the globe.

The natural rock archway of Durdle Door, frames the distant band of our Milky Way in this shot by Stephen Banks.The rock formations on Dorset's Jurassic Coast are more than 100 million years old but many of the stars that make up the Milky Way are far older, at up to ten billion years old

A vast sweep of auroral light appears to mirror the shape of the frozen shoreline in this photograph by Mike Curry

The Carina Nebula is a chaotic region of star formation several thousand light years from Earth. In the central part of the nebula, shown here, dense clouds of gas and dust are lit up by the light of newly born stars. The star Eta Carinae is at the centre of this image by Michael Sidonio

Shortlisted entries include the dazzling firework display of a Perseid meteor shower against a snowy backdrop in Wyoming, the spectacular view of the Milky Way arching over the much-loved landmark of Durdle Door on the Dorset coast and a solitary watcher seated by his tent on the Korgfjellet Mountain in Norway watching a breathtaking Orionid meteor soar above him.



But the diversity of locations is not just limited to Earth.



Photographers have also captured sights from across our Solar System, galaxy and beyond.

Wayne England managed to catch the moment when the Milky Way appears to line up with the giant 64 metre dish of the radio telescope at Parkes Observatory in Australia. As you can see from the artificial lights around the telescope, light pollution is not a problem for radio astronomers

This photograph by Rogelio Bernal Andreo shows the Milky Way arching over Yosemite Valley in California's famous national park. A lens-shaped (lenticular) cloud hovers over the distinct granite dome of Liberty Cap, which rises to an elevation of over 2,000 metres

Transits of Venus are rare events, occurring in pairs eight years apart, with each pair separated by more than a century. The transits themselves are brief, as Venus only takes around 6 hours to cross the disc of the Sun. Alexandru Conu captured the event in Romania (pictured left). On the right, Tommy Eliassen photographed a bright meteor streaking across the sky



From frenzied solar storms on the surface of the Sun, to clusters of hot blue stars surrounded by swirling dust, photographers have captured the wonders of the universe in ways that the public might not have seen them before.



The competition’s judges include Space scientist and TV presenter Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, editor of Sky at Night Magazine Chris Bramley and the Royal Observatory’s public astronomer, Dr Marek Kukula.



The winners of the competition’s four categories and three special prizes will be announced on 18 September.

Although auroral displays have become more common as the Sun nears the peak of its 11 year cycle of activity in 2013, these hilltop observers were still lucky to witness such a spectacular example and were photographed by James Woodend

As the full Moon sinks in the west, the Sun rises in the east, lighting up the snow-capped Alpine horizon, captured by Stefano De Rosa

The birth of new stars is a complex process. One aspect of stellar formation is the production of jets of material which blast out from the poles of some new-born stars. Here, these jets can be seen emerging from the thick dust and gas clouds of the Pelican Nebula, as photographed by Andre van der Hoeven

An exhibition of all the winning images will open the following day on 19 September at the Royal Observatory.



In memory of The Sky at Night’s Sir Patrick Moore, who was previously a judge in the competition, the award for Best Newcomer will now be known as ‘The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer’ in recognition of the thousands of people he inspired to look up and explore the stars.

The free public exhibition will run until 23 February 2014.

The work of the winners and shortlisted entries will also be published in the competition’s official book.

Although a line of burnt orange along the horizon marks where sunset has already occurred, most of the light in this image by Ingólfur Bjargmundsson comes from the Sun. High in the sky the bright disc of the Moon is shining with reflected sunlight, while a tiny smudge above the sea is sunlight reflecting from the dust and gas in the tail of Comet Panstarrs

This full disc image of the Sun, captured by Paul Haese, shows dark filaments rising from the surface and back again. These features are known as prominences

The overall winner will receive prize money of £1,500, while the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year will scoop a £500 prize.

There are also three categories of Earth and space, which includes landscape, people and other 'earthly' things, the best photograph of the solar system and images of beyond our solar system, including stars, nebulae and galaxies.

The winner of each category will receive £500 and there are also awards for the runner up and highly commended entries.

Noctilucent clouds are formed of tiny ice crystals high in the atmosphere around 80km above the ground and can be seen at Twilight. Here, despite the urban lights, they are photographed above the Pennine Hills of northern England by Mark Shaw

Modern cameras can detect light which is too faint for our eyes to see. Nik Szymanek has chosen a subdued palette of colours to represent the Orion Nebula to emphasise the delicate structure of the nebula's dust clouds

There will also be three special prizes for photographs that include people in a creative way and 'robotic scope image of he year' for images that were taken usingone of the increasing number of computer-controlled telescopes at prime observing sites around the world which can be accessed over the internet by members of the public.

The Sir Patrick Moore prize for Best Newcomer award will go to a person who has taken up the hobby of photographing space in the last year and has not entered an image into the competition before.



The judges will give special consideration to those using simple and inexpensive start-out kit.