Star photographer wins prize with stunning Aoraki Mount Cook shot

Landscape astro photographer, Tom Rae, has won the Royal Museums Greenwich Skyscapes Astronomy Photographer of the Year for a second time.

His winning picture this year is 'The Ridge' taken at Aoraki Mount Cook is comprised of 62 individual photos stitched together to create a panoramic view.

Rae, who is based in Canterbury, scoped out the potential image by taking preparatory shots with his phone, he says.

“I climbed up this ridge line and I took some photos on my phone and then I thought yep, this is one that I'll have to come back for when the Milky Way aligns, which was a year from that date.”

The winning image: