Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011

[Chris Dodkin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14792580

From giant oval storms on the surface of Jupiter to colourful wispy remnants from a supernova explosion and the dazzling green curtain of the Northern Lights - nearly 800 images were submitted for the latest Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

Just a stunning selection of astro images - amazing quality and beauty

 

[Hamish Gill]

They really are pretty something!
Is that first one real? How is that done?

 

[Pete Askew]

Stunniung images and isn't it refereshing that the overal winner was for a highly manipulated digital composite - "Allowing us to see something that would be impossible with the human eye"!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

They really are pretty something!
Is that first one real? How is that done?

You mean the milky-way with the palm trees?

I'm thinking very dark location with no light pollution - f2.8 or faster, and high ISO for a long'ish exposure. (Not so long the stars blur)

 

[Hamish Gill]

It's all the colour I don't get ... I know it's up there, but I was unaware that it was visible with a normal camera like that...

 

[Pete Askew]

Much of the colour is recorded by a digital camera. Have you listened to the original article on the BBC web site. Their explanations are quite interesting.