Bill Snyder’s image of the Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) has won the Deep Space award in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 competition.
The Horsehead Nebula is one of the most photographed objects in the night sky, but this image portrays it in a brand new light. The photographer draws the eye down to the creased and folded landscape of gas and dust at its base rather than focusing solely on the silhouette of the horsehead itself. Snyder also includes the glowing cavity surrounding a bright star situated to the lower left of the horsehead.
You can see this and more winning entries in the Astronomy Photographer of Year exhibition at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. It runs until 22 February 2015.
Image: © Bill Snyder.