Nasa praises Kiwi's stunning astronomy photo

The photo was taken in Tauranga's Fergusson Park, overlooking the city's harbour inlet. Photo / Amit Kamble

A stunning night photo shot by Auckland photographer Amit Kamble was named Nasa Astronomy Picture of the Day this week.

Each day a different image or photograph of the universe is featured on the Apod website, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

From 1995 the Apod archive contains the largest collection of annotated astronomical images on the internet.

Mr Kamble took the photograph several days before it was run on the website on Thursday.

It was taken in Tauranga's Fergusson Park, looking over the city's harbour inlet.

Mr Kamble, a software developer for Native Software, said he was thrilled to get a photograph published after spending many nights waiting for the perfect frame.

"I love taking landscapes and nightscapes," his website biography said.

"I love going out at night under the stars, you will mostly find nightscapes, astroscapes, [and] deep sky images in my gallery."

Explanation by astronomer Judy Schmidt:

It is the object to the left of the big tree that's generating much recent excitement. If you look closely, there you can see Comet PanSTARRS, complete with two tails. During July, this comet has increased markedly in brightness and has just passed its closest approach to Earth. The statuesque tree in the center is a Norfolk Island Pine, and to either side of this tree are New Zealand Pohutukaw trees. Over the trees, far in the distance, are bright Venus and an even brighter crescent Moon. If you look even more closely, you can find Jupiter hidden in the branches of the pine. The featured image was taken a few days ago in Fergusson Park, New Zealand, looking over Tauranga Harbour Inlet. In the coming days and weeks, Comet C/2014 Q1 (PANSTARRS) will slowly move away from the Sun and the Earth, drift deep into southern skies, and fade.

App users tap here to see the full image.

Photo / Amit Kamble