"It looks like a jellyfish, but it's not – it's the remains of an exploding star. This photo looks straight out of Star Trek!"

Photographer Nigel Stanbury has won the top prize in the South Downs to Deep Space category at the South Downs National Park's astrophotography competition.

Taken with a 150mm telescope, the photo required 22 hours of exposure over three nights to reveal the colors and finer details. The result is a vibrant comic spectacle – showing a galactic “jellyfish” formed from a massive star that exploded 35,000 years ago.

Jury member Dan Oakley, a Dark Skies expert and astrophotographer, says: “It looks like a jellyfish, but it's not – it’s the remains of an exploding star. It looks straight out of Star Trek!”

'Jellyfish Nebula'

By capturing the remains of a supernova located 5,000 light-years away, Stanbury became the first photographer to win the newly introduced South Downs to Deep Space category.

Photographer Stanbury explains: "The image is of the so called Jellyfish Nebula located in the constellation of Gemini, the Twins.

"It is the remains of a star larger than our Sun that exploded as a supernova many thousands of years ago, blowing off a cloud of gas that has been expanding ever since and glows as it collides with surrounding gas and dust.

"(...) It has taken light 5,000 years to reach us, so the image shows the object as it appeared 5,000 years ago!"

South Downs National Park's astrophotography competition

The South Downs National Park celebrates its 10th anniversary as an International Dark Sky Reserve – one of only 25 in the world and a paradise for stargazers.

The astrophotography winners are being announced as the National Park's Dark Skies Festival kicks off this week, with an action-packed line-up of space-related fun.

The winning and highly commended images will be displayed during the festival, with selected entries submitted for a People's Choice vote. For more info, visit the South Downs website.

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