A video showing the Sun's relationship with Earth has won the 2013 International Science & Engineering Visualisation Challenge.

The film, Dynamic Earth Visualisation Excerpt: Coronal Mass Ejection and Ocean/Wind Circulation, was made by Nasa and narrated by actor Liam Neeson.

The segment is part of a longer film called Dynamic Earth: Exploring Earth's Climate Engine.

Award officials said: "The segment used real satellite data and six computational models to create a vision that is both beautiful and scientifically accurate. Its long, swooping scenes reveal how different parts of the climate system interact at very different scales."

Horace Mitchell, who leads Nasa's Scientific Visualisation Studio, said: "It's one of the top visualisations we've ever done."

Nasa beat off competition from several other top entries, including StemCellShorts from the Stem Cell Network, which introduces basic concepts in stem cell research.

Another video given an honourable mention was the Immunology of the Gut Mucosa, a 3D animation looking at the gut mucosa and how it protects a person from food-borne pathogens.

Researchers at the University of California Riverside were also commended for their film Visualising Leaf Cells from Within.

Finally, Spherical Nucleic Acids by Northwestern University shows why these acids are favoured for therapeutic treatments because they can move across cell membranes, as well as other talents.

Watch the videos given honourable mentions below:

NASA