The Best Space Porn of the Year

By Lauren Davis, 5:30 PM on Wed Sep 9 2009, 13,928 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

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Martin Pugh's striking image of the Horsehead Nebula took home the grand prize in the 2009 Royal Observatory Greenwich's Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. Check out more winners of space porn's top honors.

Judges for the Royal Observatory Greenwich combed through over 500 images of moons, planets, nebula, and Earth's own night sky, and chose twenty top photos in each of four categories: Deep Space, Earth and Space, Our Solar System, and Young Photographers — for astronomy buffs 16 and under. Judges were especially wowed by Pugh's image of the oft-photographed Horsehead Nebula. Said Chris Lintott, competition judge and co-presenter of the BBC's The Sky at Night:

I think this is the perfect deep-sky image; perfectly composed, it grabs your attention straight away. When you look closer, the detail is absolutely stunning, whether it's the fine structure in the curtain behind the horse or the subtle details on the edge of the dark nebula itself.

The winning photos will be on display at the Royal Observatory until January 10th, 2010.

[Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2009]