Using a long exposure and the light of the full moon to illuminate the landscape, Pete Wheeler, from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, has captured one of the 128 tiles of the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope and a distant breakaway beneath a star-studded Murchison sky. Located in the Western Australian outback, the array is a precursor to what will be the largest telescope ever built—the Square Kilometre Array.

Bolt out of the blue is the result of Sunshine Coast photographer Peter Enright’s lucky, four-second handheld exposure during a sudden summer storm at the Woodford Folk Festival. The image encapsulates the incredible power of nature.

Perth researcher Michael Bradshaw’s image shows skin cells with internalised nanoparticles. The large circle is a 10mm coverslip and the bright orange dots are the fluorescent and magnetic nanoparticles inside the cells. The cells are being induced to migrate off to the left of the coverslip via an external magnetic field. This kind of cellular control has implications in wound healing.

Crown-of-thorns sea stars have a justifiably bad reputation for causing damage to the Great Barrier Reef. Richard Wylie’s photo, taken at Lizard Island, demonstrates that even one 40-cm-wide crown-of-thorns can eat its way through a large area of reef. The white coral, which has been consumed by this sea star, is in sharp contrast to the healthy sections of reef.

Many animals, particularly insects, have the ability to perceive their surroundings in a totally different way to humans. Queensland teacher Ralph Grimm’s textural, close-up image draws the viewer in to reveal the exquisite detail and complexity of a moth’s head, thereby also encouraging people to not just see the surface but to look more closely at our amazing world.

The intricate structure of milk ducts within the human breast is captured in 3D by Anne Rios of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. Obtained using the latest imaging technology being used to study breast cancer, the photograph is a highly commended submission of the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

RMIT University, Melbourne photographer Phred Petersen’s image is a composite of four frames from high-speed video showing the aerodynamics of an auto-rotating samara, or ‘helicopter’ seed. This seed was tagged with a theatrical smoke formula to show an integrated picture of its descent. Understanding the aerodynamics of these natural helicopters has application in the bio-inspired design of micro air vehicles.

The Alfred manta, up to 5.5m wide, is one of the largest rays on the planet. Queensland Museum’s Gary Cranitch has captured this graceful giant feeding on plankton, lit by sunbeams just below the ocean surface. His image won third place in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

Charles Tambiah from the Australian National University in the ACT has composed a striking image of a basket star by combining fibre-optics and imaging software to ‘paint’ hidden spaces. Charles’ unravelling of this simple, yet complex, marine creature won second place in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

The birth of a seed is captured by CSIRO’s Mark Talbot from the ACT. This image was chosen as the winner of the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography, Mark’s photo uses a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to obtain a unique view of young wheat flower buds.