1. Spectacular Space Photos! The top ten greatest space photographs taken by Hubble Telescope

2. Tenth Place - Trifid Nebula (M20, NGC 6514) It’s a 'stellar nursery' where new stars are being born and is about 9,000 light years away in Constellation Sagittarius.

3. The glowering eyes are the cores of the two merging galaxies in Constellation Canis Major, 114 million light years away. Ninth Place – Colliding spiral galaxies (NGC 2207 and IC 2163)

4. It is an expanding star with a halo of light around it in Constellation Monoceros about 20,000 light years away. It reminded astronomers of Van Gogh’s painting. Eighth Place - Starry Night (V838 Monocerotis)

5. Seventh Place - Perfect Storm It’s a small region in the Swan Nebula (M17) about 5,500 light- years away in Constellation Sagittarius. It resembles a raging sea that is a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements such as oxygen and sulfur.

6. The part pictured here is 2.5 light years in length. It’s about 2,700 light years away in Constellation Monoceros. Sixth Place - Cone Nebula (NGC 2264)

7. It’s about 8,000 light years away in Constellation Musca. It has a 'pinched-in-the-middle' look because the winds that shape it are weaker at the centre. Fifth Place - Hourglass Nebula (MyCn 18)

8. Fourth Place - Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) It is a planetary nebula in Constellation Draco, about 3,300 light years away. It resembles a cat’s eye.

9. It looks like a face surrounded by a parka hood. The hood is a ring of comet-shaped objects flying away from a dying star. Eskimo is about 3,000 light years away in Constellation Gemini. Third Place - Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392)

10. It’s a cloud of dust and gas resembling an ant. It’s about 8,000 light years away in Constellation Norma. Second Place –Ant Nebula (Mz3)

11. First Place –Sombrero Galaxy (M104) It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across. It is 29 million light years away in Constellation Virgo.

12. Images and Info: Wikipedia and www SofterImages A SofterImages Production