Thousands of entries in the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest have been winnowed down to the top 25. The pictures are stunning, and they'll make you wonder how on earth did they shoot that? For some, it was quite an effort, like the picture shown here of the Orion Nebula, captured by Bernard Miller of the U.S.
The Orion Nebula, located 1,500 light-years away. For you photo geeks, this stunning image was produced by combining 36 hours of total exposure using six different filters; Ha, SII, OIII, Red, Green, and Blue.
But not all the top pictures were so complicated. Casper Kentish took a picture of the moon through his new telescope with an iPad and made the cut. See all 25 finalists at Gizmodo. The winners will be announced in October.