Eta Carinae and her Keyhole(01 of15)
Open Image ModalThe 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. One of these is a true giant – the star Eta Carinae right at the centre of this image. More than a hundred times as massive as the Sun, and millions of times brighter, Eta Carinae is unstable and will one day explode as a supernova. (credit:Michael Sidonio)
A Flawless Point(02 of15)
Open Image ModalThis striking and unusual panoramic shot is the result of meticulous planning, an artist’s eye for dramatic lighting and sheer chance. The photograph 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 2000m, near the centre of the photograph. (credit:Rogelio Bernal Andreo)
Archway to Heaven(03 of15)
Open Image ModalThe natural rock archway of Durdle Door dramatically frames the distant band of our Milky Way in this carefully composed shot. The spectacular rock formations in this part of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast are more than 100 million years old. However, many of the stars that make up the Milky Way are far older, at up to ten billion years old. (credit:Stephen Banks)
Comet PANSTARRS(04 of15)
Open Image ModalAlthough a line of burnt orange along the horizon marks where sunset has already occurred, most of the light in this image still comes ultimately 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. Even the aurora’s ghostly curtains of glowing gas are ultimately powered by the ‘solar wind’ of subatomic particles given off by the Sun. Only the stars shine with their own light. (credit:Ingólfur Bjargmundsson)
Full view of Noctilucent cloud(05 of15)
Open Image ModalNoctilucent clouds are formed of tiny ice crystals high in the atmosphere, around 80km above the ground. Their name means ‘night shining’ in Latin and they only become visible during deep twilight conditions. This is because they are not competing with the blue daytime sky and the more substantial clouds at lower altitudes. Here, despite the urban lights, they put on a spectacular display above the Pennine Hills of northern England. (credit:Mark Shaw)
Herbig-Haro Objects in the Pelican Nebula(06 of15)
Open Image ModalThe birth of new stars is a complex process which astronomers are still trying to understand in detail. One fascinating 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, or ‘Herbig-Haro objects’, can be seen emerging from the thick dust and gas clouds of the Pelican Nebula, a stellar nursery in the constellation of Cygnus. (credit:Andre van der Hoeven)
Hunters Moon over the Alps(07 of15)
Open Image ModalAs the full Moon sinks in the west, the Sun rises in the east, lighting up the snow-capped Alpine horizon. Although both Moon and mountain are illuminated by sunlight in this image their different colours reveal the scattering effects of the Earth’s atmosphere on the white light of the Sun. The rays of the rising Sun pass through the full thickness of the air causing the blue, green and yellow light to be scattered in all directions and leaving only the red light to reach the distant mountains. The Moon is slightly higher in the sky, so its reflected sunlight is scattered less severely, and retains a warm yellow glow. (credit:Stefano De Rosa)
Leaning In(08 of15)
Open Image ModalFamiliar stars and constellations form a line rising up behind this windswept tree in Dartmoor National Park in the south-west of England. Just above the horizon is Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, followed by the unmistakeable outline of Orion the Hunter. Above this lies the triangular face of Taurus the Bull with the orange star Aldebaran, the disc of the Moon and the bright, compact cluster of the Pleiades. (credit:Anna Walls)
Northern Lights XXIII(09 of15)
Open Image ModalA vast sweep of shimmering auroral light appears to mirror the shape of the frozen shoreline in this beautifully composed shot. To capture all of the different sources of light – the stars, the aurora and the streetlights of the distant towns – is a tricky balancing act requiring great skill of the photographer. (credit:Mike Curry)
Orion Nebula(10 of15)
Open Image ModalModern cameras can detect light which is too faint for our eyes to see and are able to distinguish levels of detail which are well beyond our own capabilities. In rendering this information as an image we can understand, astrophotographers must make practical and aesthetic choices about contrast, brightness and colour. Here, the photographer has chosen an unusually subdued palette of colours to represent the Orion Nebula, replacing the familiar riot of reds and magentas with subtle greys and salmon pinks. These emphasise the delicate structure of the nebula’s dust clouds. (credit:Nik Szymanek)
Photographers on the Rim of Myvatn Craters(11 of15)
Open Image ModalThe scale and majesty of astronomical and atmospheric phenomena are clearly shown in this dramatic scene. Although auroral displays have become more common, as the Sun nears the peak of its eleven-year cycle of activity in 2013, these hilltop observers were still lucky to witness such a spectacular example. (credit:James Woodend)
Receiving the Galatic Beam(12 of15)
Open Image ModalHere, the photographer has managed to catch the moment when the Milky Way appears to line up with the giant 64m dish of the radio telescope at Parkes Observatory in Australia. As can be seen from the artificial lights around the telescope, light pollution is not a problem for radio astronomers. Radio and microwave interference is a big issue however, as it masks the faint natural emissions from distant objects in space. For this reason many radio observatories ban mobile phone use on their premises. (credit:Wayne England)
Solar Max(13 of15)
Open Image ModalThis full disc image of the Sun is a visual feast, with dark filaments rising up from the surface and back again seen face-on and the limb or edge of the Sun populated by the same type of loops, but this time from a side-on perspective. These features are known as prominences, perfectly contrasted against the background sky. The spectacle is topped off with the seething surface of the Sun all over, pockmarked with sunspots. These features are off-limits to the naked eye, but by tempering the Sun’s intense light with an appropriate filter, the glare is gone and beautiful turmoil is unveiled. (credit:Paul Haese)
The Night Photographer(14 of15)
Open Image ModalThis image captures the dedication of the committed astrophotographer: camping out in a remote location and spending hours waiting for the perfect shot of the night sky. Here, the photographer’s patience has been rewarded with the sight of a bright meteor streaking across the sky as it burns up high in the Earth’s atmosphere. (credit:Tommy Eliassen)
Venus Transit at the Black Sea(15 of15)
Open Image ModalTransits of Venus are rare events, occurring in pairs eight years apart, with each pair separated by more than a century. But the transits themselves are brief, as Venus only takes around six hours to cross the disc of the Sun. In 2012 the transit was already well under way as the Sun rose over Europe. This gave the continent’s astronomers a brief window of opportunity to capture the black dot of Venus silhouetted in front of the Sun. (credit:Alexandru Conu)