Each month in BBC Sky at Night Magazine we present our favourite astro images captured by the world's biggest and most hardworking telescopes. Here we present a selection of the most amazing astrophotos that caught our eye in 2018.
Galaxy NGC 1398, Very Large Telescope, 1 January 2018. Credit: ESO
Stephan’s Quintet, Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, 5 February 2018. Credit: CFHT/Coelum, Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT/CEA Saclay/Obs. de Paris) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum)
The Crab Nebula, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, 14 March 2018. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/STScI; Infrared: NASA-JPL-Caltech
The Lagoon Nebula, Hubble Space Telescope, 19 April 2018. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI
Galaxy Messier 96, Hubble Space Telescope, 17 May 2018. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the LEGUS team
Coronal loops, NASA Solar Dynamic Observatory, 5 June 2018. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA.
Star cluster RCW 38, Very Large Telescope, 11 July 2018. Credit: ESO/K. Muzic
The Carina Nebula, VISTA, 29 August 2018. Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/M. Irwin/J. Lewis
Galaxy NGC 3981, Very Large Telescope, 12 September 2017. Credit: ESO
Hubble Ultra Deep Field, Very Large Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, 1 October 2018
Black hole at centre of galaxy cluster Abell 2597, Very Large Telescope, 6 November 2018. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Tremblay et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF, B. Saxton; NASA/Chandra; ESO/VLT
The Carina Nebula, Europa Telescope, 5 December 2018. Credit: SPECULOOS Team/E. Jehin/ESO