Astronomy Photographer of the Year is an annual competition featuring the world’s greatest space photography. Photographers from across the globe compete to take home the prestigious title.

Stars & Nebulae - winner

"The colours in this photograph make for a stunning composition - from the fiery red to the defiant, moody blue at the centre of the 'eye'. It's easy to see how the ancients used to  stargaze into the heavens, and imagine that the cosmos was looking back, keeping a watchful eye over us." Imad Ahmed, competition judge

"This ultra deep exposure of the eye of god, also known as  the Helix nebula or NGC7293, reveals the glorious colours of the core and surrounding rare-seen details.

I was very curious to dig all the faint but high contrast details that never seen in other images. So I used 30minutes sub in both Ha and O-III emission during the whole observable season. Finally I got 22.5 hours perfect data.

So I was begin with the HOO combination, to try my best to make it Hubblelistic. And l am lucky enough to get this satisfactory result. The core presents purple and cyan creating an ethereal and dreamy feeling. The outer stunning orange, red and yellow region shows the power of the cosmic, all the matter is moving, colliding and tumbling." Weitang Liang

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