Robotic Scope Winner: Orion in Bloom

The great stellar nursery known as the Orion nebula is captured in all its glory in this February 4, 2013, composite shot combining two telescope views.

By combining results from two different telescopes, a robotic one in Australia and another in Hungary, László Francsics managed to catch sight of tiny dark blobs of gas and dust surrounding newly formed stars in the nebula.

Known as protoplanetary disks, astronomers believe that these plates of material coalesce over time to form planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.