THIS stunning image of the Oxford skyline proved every cloud has a silver lining for one amateur photographer.

When bad weather spoiled Andrew Steele’s chances of snapping a lunar eclipse, the 26-year-old remained determined to capture a celestial sight the following evening.

After charting the moon’s position and scouring a map for suitable locations, Mr Steele asked a farmer for permission to stand in his hilltop field between Cassington and Yarnton, and cycled there at dusk.

The resulting image – a combination of three photos with varying exposures – has not been digitally altered.

Last week it was highly commended at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition run by the Royal Observatory at Greenwich alongside competition from images taken using high-powered telescopes.

Mr Steele, who has lived in Oxford for eight years and is on the verge of completing a PhD at Oxford University’s physics department, said: “On June 15 this year there was a lunar eclipse, where the moon is obscured by the earth’s shadow.

“I wanted to take a photo of it but almost the whole of the UK was completely covered by cloud.

“But because I’d planned this shot of the moon behind Oxford, I just didn’t want to let that planning go to waste.

“I looked up where the moon would rise and got a ruler and a map and drew a line to work out where I could get the right angle.”

Having captured the shot at precisely 10.12pm, Mr Steele later heard about the Royal Observatory’s competition and fired off a “completely speculative” entry.

He was invited to the awards last Thursday where his work was displayed alongside images predominately taken through telescopes of far-away stars.

He said: “Mine was quite unusual because it was really rooted on planet earth – I think that’s what carried it through, because it was different from the others.”