The finalists for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year are simply stellar

Looking like the eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings movies, an Aussie snapper’s startling image of a nebula is a finalist in an international competition of space photography.

Polar Picture: Xiuquan Zhang (China). In the winter of 2018, the photographer and his family travelled to Iceland to capture the Northern Lights. Just at the right time, the photographer witnessed two outbursts and screamed with excitement. This spectacular sight can’t be seen in the mid-latitudes so it was a very special and unique moment. Jökulsárlón, Iceland.

Looking like a huge malevolent eye in the sky, Australian snapper Andrew Campbell’s image of the Helix Nebula has been named as a finalist in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition run by Britain’s Royal Observatory.

Dubbed Deep in the Heart of Mordor, the space dust cloud bears an unnerving resemblance to the eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings films, and took a total of 63 hours for the Melbourne-based photographer to capture.

Despite being 650 million light years away, the Helix Nebula is actually one of our nearest examples of this deep space phenomenon, which occur at the end of the life of a sun-like star. The core, which will eventually become a white dwarf star, glows in light so powerful it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce.

Campbell’s startling image is up against another Australian entry in the list of finalists - James Stone’s striking shot of the Aurora Australis putting on a gaudy show over Beerbarrel Beach in northeast Tasmania.

Stone - who was also a finalist in last year’s competition - captured the image on a still night in April last year, using a 10-second exposure to capture the soft lime, pink and lemon shades lighting up the dark.

The Tasmanian-based photographer also has a second photo in the People and Space category, a star trail selfie image taken at South Arm, south of Hobart.

A record 4600 entries were received for this year’s prize, which is now in its 11th year.

Winners in nine categories will be announced on September 12.

The overall winner will receive £10,000 ($18,400) - stellar in anybody’s language.

Deep in the Heart of Mordor – NGC 7293 Picture: Andrew Campbell. NGC 7293, also known as the Helix Nebula is so-named because it appears that you are looking down the axis of a helix. In reality, it is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry, including radial filaments and extended outer loops. This image is the result of narrowband data on the Helix Nebula, gathered over two months from suburban Melbourne, Australia. The photographer extracted every bit of data to get the outer chevrons and filigree details to separate from the light pollution and wanted to show the OIII eye structures in the iris, so Photoshop masking was used to balance the overwhelming H-alpha signal and let the OIII present well. Melbourne, Australia, 27 November 2018.

Aurora Australis from Beerbarrel Beach Picture: James Stone. A brightly coloured display of the Southern Lights beams high into the night sky on the east coast of Tasmania. The Large Magellanic Cloud also appears at the top centre of the image. Deserted beaches and minimal light pollution make Tasmania an ideal place to photograph the night sky, even more so when the aurora comes out to play. St Helens, Tasmania, Australia, 20 April 2018

Albany Milkyway Picture: Yifan Bai (China). Each year around September and October, the Milky Way is at its best position. The galactic core is right in the middle of the sky. The photographer stood on the cliff by the sea and with his torch he lit up the natural bridge, which looks like a giant hole. The bridge was created by the gradual wearing away of the granite rock by the great Southern Ocean. This is a panoramic image of 25 single exposures combined. Albany, Australia, 8 October 2018.

Dancing in the Goðafoss, Iceland. Picture: Sutie Yang (China). The Goðafoss waterfall is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in Iceland. The water of the river Skjálfandafljót falls from a height of 12 metres over a width of 30 metres. The photographer had visited the location three times before and each time the weather was not ideal. This time around the photographer had a half an hour window of good weather and during this brief time, the aurora began to dance. This photo was merged from two consecutive images with same EXIF and taken in the same place. Bárðardalur, Iceland, 14 January 2019.

Aurora is a bird. Picture: Alexander Stepanenko (Russia) The majestic aurora, shaped like a bird, is spreading its wings over the destroyed military hydroelectric station located two hours away from Murmansk. The photographer has visited this location several times over the years trying to photograph the aurora flaring over the old station. In September 2018 the photographer returned and managed to capture this magnificent shot. Murmansk Region, Russia, 10 September 2018

The Horsehead and Flame Nebula. Picture: Connor Matherne (USA). This image was heavily inspired by Ken Crawford’s photo of the Horsehead Nebula which perfectly showcased the hydrogen filaments located within the blue reflection nebula, NGC 2023, just below the Horsehead. The small pink filaments contrast beautifully against the blue reflection nebula. The photographer thinks of those small filaments as the cherry on top of this spectacular region of the night sky caught in a swirl of dust and gas. Deep Sky West Observatory, Rowe, New Mexico, USA, 27 November 2018.

The Carina Nebula Picture: Petar Babić (Croatia). For the photographer the Carina Nebula is the most beautiful nebula in the night sky. The image showcases how extensive and colourful the Nebula really is. Using the iTelescope service he shot this picture with a monochrome camera using three different filters hydrogen alpha, OIII and SII and then, after collecting all the data, he combined those three filters into one colour image using Pixinsight. The yellows and oranges show the H-alpha and SII, and the blues show the OIII. Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia, 24 January 2019.

Reflections of Mount Hooker. Picture: Marc Toso (USA). Mount Hooker sits 15 miles past alpine lakes and mountain passes in the Wind River Mountain Range in Wyoming. After the sun set the photographer ventured across the lake near camp. The lake was shallow; at its far end, the low water revealed stones of various sizes. Following the narrow tunnel of the headlamp’s beam, the photographer leapt from rock to stone across the water. The sky was clear, the glorious Milky Way was looming over the mountains and the stars shone bright and everything was reflected beautifully on the foreground. The photographer sat on a rock about 20 feet into the lake and started to shoot. Engulfed in dark beauty the photographer realised that astrophotography is primarily about the experience, with the beautiful photo just an extra. Pinedale, Wyoming, USA, 3 September 2018.

Out on a Limb Picture: Alastair Woodward (UK). This image shows a solitary prominence on the limb of the solar disk. With minimum solar activity, prominences have become a main focus of interest in 2018. The photographer inverted the image during processing to show both the prominence and details of the chromosphere. The photograph consists of a stack of 70 per cent of the best 1,000 frames from an AVI shot at 40fps. The stack was generated using Autostakkert!, the ImPPG software was used for deconvolution, unsharpen masking and tone curve adjustment and Adobe Photoshop CC was used for false colouring and sharpening. Derby, UK, 8 July 2018.

Sharafkhaneh port and lake Urmia Picture: Masoud Ghadiri (Iran). Lake Urmia used to be the largest saltwater lake in the Middle East. Due to climate change, damming of rivers and low rainfall, the lake now contains only five per cent of the amount of water it used to two decades ago. The ship shown was 6km from the port. Because of the lack of suitable transport, the photographer took a motorcycle for 2.5 km and walked the rest of the way. The summer Milky Way is very prominent in this photo. On the galaxy zone, Saturn is located besides the Lagoon Nebula. On the right of the horizon, you can see the extreme light pollution of Urmia, which is caused by ever-increasing city development. Lake Urmia, Iran, 11 August 2018.

The Sculptor Galaxy. Picture: Bernard Miller, Martin Pugh (USA). This is an image of NGC 253, also known as the Sculptor Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy about 11 million light years away in the constellation Sculptor. It is a starburst galaxy, which means it undergoes periods of intense star formation and is the largest galaxy in a group of galaxies called the Sculptor Group. Yass, New South Wales, Australia, 12 November 2018.

View Point. Picture: Nicolai Brügger (Germany).The spectacular Milky Way over the picturesque Bavarian mountain, Herzogstand. The photographer often hikes up this mountain, mostly to observe the Milky Way. The image also depicts a beautiful glow over the horizon, the lakes Walchensee and Kochelsee on the left side and a tiny cabin on the right side. Kochel, Bavaria, Germany, 22 May 2018.

Road to Glory. Picture: Nicolai Brügger (Germany) The Milky Way is stretching over the splendid Dolomites dressed in white. The photographer shot the foreground at 7pm in good blue hour and took many vertical images. The Milky Way was captured at 5:30am the next morning at the exact same position. The photographer composed this panorama using many vertical shots so the foreground and the comet would be perfectly lit. Giau Pass, Dolomites, Italy, 6–7 February 2019.