jtotheizzoe:

Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2012 Winners

The UK’s Royal Observatory has announced their awards for the best astronomy photographers of 2012. There’s an indescribable amount of stellar majesty on display over at their gallery, and I recommend taking a look at the whole collection. 

I was particularly taken with the solar system category. I don’t know, it just reminds me that if there’s this much amazingness happening around our own home, just imagine what we could see in the trillions and trillions of other star systems throughout the universe. Maybe somewhere else, perhaps in some other time, past or future, some alien race will develop a way to capture images of their home, and award people with whatever their version of a really big check is.

Anyway, above you see the solar system winner, Chris Warren’s “Transit of Venus”, and the runner-up, Damien Peach’s “Mars in 2012”. Enjoy.