A star-studded event at the Royal Observatory

The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich - the home of London's only planetarium and the UK's largest refracting telescope - is the fitting location for the exhibition of this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year (on show until 27 February 2011).

The award is open to all - professionals and amateurs alike - and invited entrants to submit images to a designated Flickr group under set categories such as 'People and Space' and 'Our Solar System'. For 2010 the museum has also launched an initiative to engage astronomy photographers to pool their resources to help create an accurate map of the night sky.

Follow the link to highlights from the 'Earth and Space' section, which includes analysis of Tom Lowe's winning image, Blazing Bristlecone.