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The overall winner in the Royal Observatory Greenwichs annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, M51 by Martin Pugh.

Want to see some absolutely gorgeous images of our Universe, all taken by amateur astrophotographers? Look no farther than the winners of the 4th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, held by the Royal Observatory Greenwich and Sky at Night Magazine. The winners were announced last night at the Royal Observatory, with a record number of entries received in 2012 from photographers from around the world. Many of the pictures have been taken with equipment that was out of the range of the amateur many years ago, said Sir Patrick Moore, from the BBCs Sky at Night, who is a judge in the competition. I also like the choice of subjects: photographing people and the night skies is very difficult. The entrants have done very well indeed.

The overall winner was from Australian Martin Pugh with his beautiful and crisp shot of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy.

The photographer has made the most of exceptionally good atmospheric conditions to capture an astonishing range of detail in his image of this iconic galaxy, said Dr. Marek Kukula, the Royal Observatory Public Astronomer and a judge in the competition. The beautiful spiral structure, dark lanes of dust, and the way the pink clouds of hydrogen really stand out its a remarkable achievement by an amateur astronomer; one of the best images of M51 that Ive seen.

Here are more of the winning shots (and you can click on any of these images for the larger versions on Flickr or the ROG site):

The People and Space winner was Laurent Laveder from France, with Facing Venus-Jupiter Close Conjunction.

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The Universe Shines for Astronomy Photographer of the Year Winners