This is the first official winner of our new Image of the Month competition - so congratulations to Ryan from Sancton school who submitted this image via the NSO forum. It's an observation of part of the Moon's surface showing the Copernicus crater in the top left of the observation. Ryan has used the false colour tools within the LTImage software to bring out the features on the surface with the crater features showing in orange, and the purple representing the Moon's 'seas'. There are no seas on the Moon, but early astronomers saw the darker features on the surface and thought that they were oceans, or Maria (Latin for seas) - we now know that these are in fact vast ancient lava fields created when the Moon was still volcanically active. We think this image is a perfect combination of art and science, and Ryan will be rewarded with a 20x20 inch canvas of this image. If you have an idea, or an observation, which you think could be the winner of August's Image of the Month competition why not submit it for a chance to win your observation on canvas (UK and Ireland only)? You can submit at any time until August 31^st at midnight (UK time) through our dedicated forum or on our social media channels by tagging us and using the #NSO_comp hashtag (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram).