By Kerry Mcdermott

PUBLISHED: 19:14 EST, 19 September 2012 | UPDATED: 06:39 EST, 20 September 2012

From distant galaxies and constellations of bright blue stars to the eerie glow of the aurora borealis, these beautiful images capture the wonders of our solar system in all its glory.

The images are taken from hundreds of entries in the Royal Observatory's 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, which invited astronomy buffs to enter four categories: Earth and Space, Our Solar System, Deep Space, and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year.

Judges chose Martin Pugh's 'breathtaking' image of the Whirlpool Galaxy as overall competition winner as well as the best entry in the Deep Space category.

Winning shot: This beautiful image of the Whirlpool Galaxy, taken by Martin Pugh, was chosen as the overall competition winner, as well as the best entry in the Deep Space category

Astronomers have studied the spiral Whirlpool Galaxy - also known as M51 - for centuries in order to understand how galaxies form and evolve.

Panel judge Will Gater, a science writer and astronomy author, described Mr Pugh's entry as 'arguably one of the finest images of M51 ever taken by an amateur photographer'.

He said: 'It's not just the detail in the spiral arms of the galaxy that's remarkable, look closely and you'll see many very distant galaxies in the background too.'

Masahiro Miyasaka's photograph of the Orion, Taurus and Pleiades stars in the frosty skies over Japan was declared the winner of the Earth and Space category.

Excerpt from:

Royal Observatory reveals winning entries in astronomy photography competition