9 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Entries That Will Leave You Breathless

"The iconic M31 Andromeda Galaxy, and its companion M32 and M110 galaxies, are pictured here in exquisite detail, strongly highlighting the active star formation regions of M31 along its entire spiral structure. To achieve this level of fidelity, the Hydrogen-Alpha emission line was used to enhance the red channel. The image is an HDR image, bringing out the faintest spiral structures as much as the intense galactic core. This image is a 4-panel mosaic comprising 76 hours of total exposure time. 1 and 10 minute exposures were captured throughout in order to produce the HDR result, with a 3nm Hydrogen-Alpha narrowband filter used with 15 minute exposures to bring out the active star formation regions."

"A spectacular Aurora Australis as seen from the Southern coastline of mainland Australia. Colorful beams, including a rare blue light, dance across the horizon and reflect from the calm seas of Bass Strait. The aurora was generated when a high speed solar wind from a coronal hole impacted the Earth's magnetic field on the 1st of March 2017. A single 25-second exposure, edited in Adobe Lightroom."

"My 8-year old son gazes up at the starry summer Milky Way filled sky from his little league baseball field in Harwich, Massachusetts, USA. Maybe he was dreaming of being a pro baseball player or maybe an astronaut? One of the most important responsibilities in being a parent is to help keep your child's dreams alive — this is his 'Field of Dreams.'"

"This image was taken at Bamburgh Lighthouse, I waited for 7 hours in the cold on the Northumberland coast, and the aurora was incredible to watch even though it was a short lived display. The Lighthouse looking like it has a shocked face really made this image for me and made the long wait worth it."

"In 2016 we got married in Iceland, having got engaged there in 2013. A few nights before our big day we witnessed the most amazing Aurora display we have ever seen. This has been an ambition of mine as a photographer since I got my first DSLR in 2014."

"As I was shooting a slow-developing noctilucent cloud display on June 12th 2016 on the calm shores of Sejerobugt bay in north-west Sjaelland Denmark, I received the company of a grey heron foraging for fish and crustaceans in the still and shallow waters of the beach. The sun stayed in the nautical twilight zone for several hours and gave birth to bright noctilucent clouds right above the bay reflecting nicely onto the Baltic, allowing me to spot the heron. It got challenging to capture the bird, as it was constantly moving, but fortunately for me, herons like lying still in wait for some precious seconds, so I took my chances and got the shot!"

"In early summer there's a spectacle to watch on Corsica. The Milky Way is visible in all its glory in the Mediterranean night sky. In this picture our galaxy stretches across the night sky above the Genoese tower of Lozari — a coastal defence constructed by the Republic of Genoa between 1530 and 1620 to stem the attacks by Barbary pirates. This night was like a movie; when we planned to leave our house at 01:00 three horses were blocking the road in front of the entrance gate and the neighbour had to catch them before we could leave Afterwards we were the only ones on the street until a wild rabbit crossed the street and forced us to a hard stop."