Embargoed until 00.01 BST on 20.9.12. The Royal Observatory’s 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition – winner of the Earth and Space category. (An exhibition of all the winning images opens at the Royal Observatory on 20 September.) Image: Taken in Nagano, Japan, this image shows Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades as the backdrop to an eerie frozen landscape. Though the stars appear to gleam with a cold, frosty light, bright blue stars like the Pleiades can be as hot as 30,000 degrees Celsius.
