Star turn: the astronomy photographs that are out of this world Dr Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and one of the judges who has helped select the photographs, said he hoped the images would encourage people to spend more time studying the skies above their heads. It's Raining Stars by Miguel Claro (Portugal) He said: "As a scientist these pictures remind me of the beauty of what I spend my time studying. These have been taken by amateur astronomers who are not using the Hubble Telescope or the giant telescopes in Chile or Hawaii, yet they are still producing some of the most beautiful photographs in the world though. Starry Night Sky by Nicole Sullivan (US) Astro-photography has the power the change the way we see the universe. You can make the invisible chaos of gas and dust between familiar stars become visible. Thanks to these images, my view of Orion, for example, has been permanently changed - although I can't see it, I have this colourful picture of the mass of dust and gas between the stars in that region of the sky. Some of these images are of timeless things that have been above our heads for millions of years while others are of fleeting events like the transit of Venus that will not happen again for another 150 years. Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences, but it is also one of the few that members of the public can make significant contributions to. Astronomy Photographer of the Year will be published by Collins with the Royal Observatory Greenwich on Thursday 25 October. An App will also be available for the iPad and iPhone.