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The winners of this year's international astrophotography awards have been revealed, with stunning images taken across the world wowing judges.
The awe-inspiring photos were taken as part of the David Malin Awards, which showcase the finest images taken of the night sky.
The awards, named after British-Australian astronomer and astrophotographer David Frederick Malin, are run by the Central West Astronomical Society in New South Wales, Australia.
Malin, now 85, is known for discovering the gigantic spiral galaxy - aptly named Malin 1 - in 1986, as well as his colour images and photographic processing techniques of astronomical objects.
Malin used giant telescopes at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in New South Wales to develop ground-breaking new photographic techniques which allowed astronomers to better decipher galactic distance, movement, structure and elements.
The winners of this year's awards certainly applied those techniques - with incredible results.
The competition was held as part of Central West's annual festival of astronomy, aka AstroFest.
It invited amateur astronomers and photographers from around the world to take part and submit their photographs for consideration in the prestigious awards.
The judges for the category winners this year were Peter Ward, Alex Cherney and Selena Simpson.
The Photo Editor's Choice was judged by Nicola Amoros.
The winning images were truly breathtaking, with landscapes of the solar system, Orion's belt, stars and the atmosphere being illuminated in high definition.
Stefan Buda's 'The Lunar Apennines' won the overall winner category, depicting lunar surface in grey and white colours.
The image of the lunar Apennine mountain region appears as though it was photographed from lunar orbit, not Earth.
The winning image is in such high definition that the site of the Apollo 15 landing is visible.
Other highlights include Andy Campbell's 'The Rippling Flames - Chamaeleon III', winner of the Deep Sky category.
Campbell's image appears more like a painting than a photograph, depicting in greys, browns, blues and purples an incredible array of stars illuminating the Chamaeleon molecular cloud.
Brighton Seeley's 'Zenith', winner of the Nightscapes (International) category, is perhaps the most colourful of all, depicting a high geomagnetic storm above a beach on earth.
Seeley captured the beautiful display of the Aurora Australis in vibrant green and red light, reaching to the zenith.
The winners of the prestigious awards receive trophies and a share of a prize pool including premium photography and imaging gear.
The best entries also earn professional printing and year-long public exhibition at the Parkes Observatory, plus a nationwide touring exhibition.
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