Amateur and professional stargazers from around the world have snapped amazing images of stars and the galaxy
These astounding pictures really are 'out of this world' - as photographers capture the most mind-blowing star scenes of the year.
The shots include bright meteors racing across the night sky, the Milky Way's perfect reflection in a river and planets aligning above the African savannah.
The images are all part of the 2014 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, in association with the BBC's long-running programme Sky at Night.
Now in its sixth year, the competition has received a record 2,500 spectacular entries from both amateur stargazers and professional photographers from around the world.
The images aren't limited to our fair Earth either - as mesmerising sights from across the Solar System are displayed, including a rare daytime scene of Jupiter moments before its astronomical alignment behind the moon.
Other entries include a shot of aurora dancing in the clouds taken from the window of a flight between London and New York and a crowd of awestruck onlookers taking in the solar eclipse gleaming through the steam as the Old Faithful Geyser erupts in Yellowstone National Park.
The competition's judges include space scientist and TV presenter Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, the 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 September 17 and an exhibition of the winning images opens the following day on 18 September at the Royal Observatory.
Entities 0 Name: Royal Observatory Count: 3 1 Name: London Count: 2 2 Name: Greenwich Count: 1 3 Name: BBC Count: 1 4 Name: moon Count: 1 5 Name: New York Count: 1 6 Name: Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock Count: 1 7 Name: Earth Count: 1 8 Name: Yellowstone National Park Count: 1 9 Name: Chris Bramley Count: 1 10 Name: Marek Kukula Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/TCtCE1 Title: Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014: the shortlist - in pictures Description: Celestial Dance by Dr Claus Possberg (Germany). In this spectacular image of the northern lights unfolding over a fjord, in Skjervøy, Troms, Norway, the vibrant colours are produced at various altitudes by different atmospheric gases, with blue light emitted by nitrogen and green by oxygen.
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