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An amateur astronomer won a NASA photography award after capturing the beauty of the rosette nebula from his garden in Guernsey.
Jean Dean, 60, spent five nights in his Channel Islands garden capturing images of the star cluster located 5,000 light-years from Earth in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way.
She sent him to NASA's Astronomy Picture Of The Day contest, but she did not think anything was going to come out of it.
So Ms. Dean was stunned when she was told that she had won the April 12 award, stating, "As an amateur, choosing an image for an APOD is a great honor and a wonderful surprise."
The Rosetta Nebula is a cloud of dust with enough gas to create about 10,000 stars as bright and powerful as the sun.
Retired oceanographer Jean Dean, 60, captured this amazing image after five nights spent in his garden taking pictures of the night sky to be able to see the star formation of the Rosette Nebula.
Jean Dean, 60, of Vazon, Guernsey (photo with his telescope in his garden) sent it all to NASA's Astronomy Picture Of The Day contest, but did not think anything could happen – she so stupefied she had won
The Andromeda galaxy captured by Guernsey's grandmother, Jean Dean, in his backyard. She won the NASA Image of the Day title for the image of a rosette nebula
Jean also captured an image of the California Nebula in his garden. She lives in the Channel Islands with her husband Peter, who is 70 years old. She has been fascinated by astronomy since her childhood.
The center of the nebula houses younger, brighter stars that glow white, hot gas zones that appear red and cooler, lighter tones that are cold patches of dust. Together, they create a beautiful patchwork of colors in the night sky.
Mrs. Dean, retired oceanographer, lives in Vazon (Guernsey) with her husband Peter, at the age of 70. She said, "My interest in astronomy was born when I was a kid. In Guernsey, we are very lucky to have very dark skies in some areas.
"I've been doing it probably for about 10 years or so, I was taking it with a movie a long time ago.
"It was a lot harder, it was very random. Digital cameras are also much more sensitive.
"The way it came out was a surprise, I'm very happy with it and I'm surprised the answer, to be honest."
Dean, whose husband is a retired speaker, dedicates her spectacular photo to her friend Trevor Mahy, another recently deceased astrophotographer.
His image will become one of the thousands of data stored in a database of images accessible to schools, universities and the general public if they want to know more about space.
She said, "The image can come from any source, such as a research observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope or an amateur astronomer.
"It serves as a database for deep space images and is a great educational tool for schools, universities and the general public. People often think that the space between the stars is empty.
"In fact, there are large, extremely dense clouds of materials containing gases such as hydrogen and interstellar dusts.
"These regions are called giant molecular clouds and are very important because they are the birthplace of new stars that lead to the creation of solar systems with planets and moons and the possibility of life.
"I encourage everyone to come here and watch, we try to encourage people to look more at the sky."
The astronomical portrait of the day is supported by NASA and presents images of astrophotography since 1995.
The Pacman nebula captured by Jean, who has been photographing space for about ten years. She said that some of the photographs were taken using a movie when she started
The nebula of the Iris captured in the night sky glittering by Jean from his garden in Guernsey. The NASA laureate said that she wanted to encourage everyone to watch the night sky more
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