Prize-winning astronomy photos
A vivid green aurora fills the sky above the Jokulsrlon Glacier lagoon in Iceland's Vatnajokull National Park.
James Woodend of Great Britain won the grand prize with the image, beating out more than 2,500 other entries. The Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 contest is judged by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and BBC Sky at Night magazine.
Here are the winners from the 2014 contest.
At the feet of Orion
This image focuses on NGC 1999, below Orion's belt.
Deep Space category, Highly commended
Coastal Stairways
Rock formation in the Wairarapa district of New Zeland create a stark foreground and contrast to the dusty clouds dancing across the Milky Way.
Winner of the Sir Patrick Moore Prize fore Best Newcomer.
Lost Souls
The light seems to rise from the horizon like a pyramid with the brilliant point of Venus at its apex. Comprised of sunlight scattered and diffused by tiny grains of dust that drift between the planets, this pale feature marks out the plane of the Solar System. The stillness of the skies contrasts with the transience of the scene below, with its shifting human figures reflected in the temporary waters of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.
Runner up, People and Space category
Diamond and Rubies
Many features of the Sun only become apparent during total eclipses, when the moon blocks the dazzling bright star from our view. This image depicts the Sun's atmosphere as a diffuse white haze, and further in the Sun's atmosphere appears in the red light of hydrogen. The photographer has captured the moment when a tiny part of the Sun's disc shines out between the mountains on the edge of the moon, creating an effect known as the "diamond ring."
Highly commended, Our Solar System category.
Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2
A Kenyan landscape serves as the foreground for a solar eclipse.
Winner in the People and Space category.
Moon balloon
Poised on the brink of space, this shot shows the curvature of the Earth with the Rocky Mountains reduced to tiny wrinkles on the earth's surface below.
Taken with the aid of a high altitude balloon, launched from Boulder, Colo., the photographer captures the view from 87,000 feet above the earth's surface. The tiny dot is the Moon in the distance.
Highly commended in the Earth and Space category.
The Horsehead Nebula
The photo of the Horsehead Nebula includes the folds of illuminated gases below the well-known formation.
Winner in the Deep Space category.
Venus-Lunar Occulation
A 2012 Venus lunar occulation shown in time-lapse image over Mount Hamkaek, South Korea.
The photograph shows us what happens when the moon and Venus appear the occupy the same position in the sky. Venus becomes temporarily hidden by the moon, only to re-emerge in less than an hour. Occulations can be viewed from locations on Earth several times throughout the year.
Highly commended in the Earth and Space category.
Ripples in a Pond
The Sun's outer layers behave as a fluid and are constantly twisted and warped by intense magnetic forces.
Winner in the Our Solar System category.
Solar Nexus
Swirls of superheated gas on the surface of the Sun. The dark strands are called filaments. The magnetic forces that keep the filaments in place will eventually break down, unraveling in a violent fling of stellar material off into space as a solar storm.
Highly commended in the Our Solar System category.
Totality From Above the Clouds
A total solar eclipse, taken from an airplane, 10,000-feet above Lake Turkana, Kenya.
The photographer had planned to shoot this rare occurrence from the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, Kenya but a huge sand-storm hit the region forty minutes before totality. However, a pilot decided to fly the plane to intercept the eclipse, and was lucky enough to capture the phenomenon, which lasted a mere ten seconds, through the open door of the small airplane.
Highly commended in the Earth and Space category.
Calcium K Eruption
'Calcium K' refers to a very specific wavelength of violent light emitted by calcium ions in extreme environments such as the Sun's atmosphere. By imagining the Sun only in the very narrow color range astronomers can isolate evidence of extreme events, such as this colossal prominence rising off the solar surface.
Highly commended in the Our Solar System category.
The Helix Nebula
Resembling a giant eye looking across 700 light years of space, the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is one of the closest planetary nebula to Earth.
The image reveals intricate details in the glowing gas that comprises the nebula including the tadpole-like 'cometary knots' that appear to stream from the inner edge of the gaseous ring. These are actually clumps of gas being bombarded by radiation from the dying star at the center of the nebula, and the 'head' of each one is approximately the size of our solar system.
Runner-up in Deep Space category.
California vs Pleaides
Known since ancient times as the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades Cluster, to the right of the image, consists of around a thousand stars, which formed about 100 million year ago. This unusual view shows the Pleiades Cluster in the broader context of its local environment, drifting through a chaotic region of dark dusk. The glowing cloud of hydrogen gas to the left of the image is the California Nebula names for its resemblance to the US state.
Highly commended in the Deep Space category.
NGC 3718
Taken from Rancho Hidalgo in Animas, New Mexico, NGC 3718 is found in the constellation of Ursa Major and know as a peculiar barred spiral galaxy.
Gravitational interactions with its near neighbor, NGC 3729 (the spiral galaxy below and to the left), are likely reasons for the galaxy's warped spiral arms, while a dark dust streak wraps around the center.
Winner of the Robotic Scope category.
Veil Nebula
IC 1340 is part of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant in constellation Cygnus about 1470 light years from Earth.
The colors are emitted by ionized hydrogen and oxygen. The shock front formed by the material ejected from giant explosion, the super nova, can be seen in this image.
Highly commended in the Deep Space category.
New Year over Cypress Mountain
Captured as the year changed from 2013 to 2014, the image made by 15-year old Emmett Sparling shows the circular movement of the stars in the sky around Polaris.
Runner-up in the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year category.
Bets of the Craters
The crater Tycho, although not the largest on the moon, can still be seen easily on the moon's surface. Formed by meteoric impacts over billions of years, these bowl-shaped lunar features are typically named after scientists, artists and explorers. The central peak of the large crater featured here, was most likely formed when the rocks of the crater floor rebounded immediately after it was formed.
Runner up in the Our Solar System category.
Wind Farm Star Trails
Taken in Australia near the town of Bungendore, this image captures the Capital Wind Farm on the shore of Lake George.
Runner up in the Earth and Space category.