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Check out some award-winning space snaps that are out of this world!

A bright pink and yellow aurorae shine over a lake with rocks. The sky behind is dark and covered in lots of tiny stars.Dan Zafra

Calling all star-gazers, space explorers and photo fanatics!

The winners of the annual ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition have been announced.

It is the largest international competition of its kind and every year showcases the best space photography from astrophotographers all around the world.

Anyone can enter, and an expert panel of judges selects the best images from each category and together decides on the winning images.

More eye-popping pics

The competition is ran with the Royal Museums Greenwich which includes the famous Royal Observatory.

There were a record number of entries this year - over 5,800 photographs were submitted from 68 countries across the globe!

There are even awards for young photographers aged under 15, keep going to the bottom to see who won that category!

Let's take a look at the winning photographs from the 17th year of the contest...

The Andromeda Galaxy in red and black.Weitang Liang, Qi Yang and Chuhong Yu

This photo of the Andromeda Galaxy won the overall competition because of its bold colours, dramatic framing and high level of detail.

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest major galaxy to our home galaxy (the Milky Way) and is located over 2 million light years from Earth.

This photograph captures a serendipitous moment when a brilliant fireball from the Perseid meteor shower appeared to graze M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Yurui Gong and Xizhen Ruan

This photograph of a brilliant fireball from the Perseids meteor shower won the prize for best newcomer.

Fireballs are large explosions of light and colour that can persist longer than an average meteor streak.

The Perseids meteor shower is often considered the best meteor shower of the year, with about 50 to 100 meteors seen per hour, according to Nasa.

Subtle grey clouds of interstellar dust and a field of local stars make up the foreground. In the middle distance is the Great Hercules Cluster itself, beautifully captured right to its luminescent core. But it’s the background that makes this image complete. Dozens of galaxies pepper the scene. Distant Luminosity group

This photo of the Great Hercules Cluster won the Stars and Nebulae category.

It is also known as 'Messier 13' and is made up of 100,000 stars all huddled together.

The colourful milkyway and northern lights fill the top half of the image, whilst the bottom half shows a rocky ridge with two very blue rivers running either side.Tom Rae

The winner of the Skyscapes category was taken in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand.

It shows the Milky Way in beautiful colours and is made up of 62 images stitched together!

The Northern Lights in pink orange and yellow dance over the sky and ocean.Kavan Chay

The winner of the Aurora category was also taken in New Zealand!

It shows the northern lights in beautifully intense colours, because it was taken during a G5 storm.

A G5 storm is the most extreme level of geomagnetic storm.

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks reacts to intensified solar winds, creating a spectacle of tail dynamics and colourful hues expelled by the bright cloud of gas around its centre. The photograph was taken at June Lake, California, USDan Bartlett

The winner of the Planets, Comets and Asteroids category shows a comet reacting to intense solar winds, which is why it looks like it has a long tail and bright colours.

This image taken in Wiltshire in the UK shows the International Space Station making a close pass of the moon. Tom Williams

This image of the International Space Station (ISS) closely passing the moon won gold for the People and Space category.

Young Person Competition

An inky looking image of the Horsehead nebula – a dense dark cloud of gases. The photograph taken in Bergamo, Italy, also shows the Flame and Orion nebulaeDaniele Borsari

If you fancy your hand next year, there's also a young persons competition for people aged 15 and under.

The inky-looking photo above was taken by Daniele Borsari from Italy, who is 15-years-old. It shows the Orion, Horsehead and Flame nebulae.

A nebula is a giant cloud of dust and gas in space.

"C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan−ATLAS), known as the Great Comet of 2024, shoots across a black inky sky scattered with small stars as a bright white light.Holden Aimar

15-year-old Holden Aimar from the US, came runner-up.

His photo shows the Great Comet of 2024, which came from the the Oort Cloud.

Scientists think the Oort Cloud is a big thick bubble around our solar system, which is made of icy, comet-like objects.

Which photograph is your favourite? Would you ever try astronomy photography?

Let us know in the comments...