logo
2025 Milky Way photo contest features its first winning image taken from space

2025 Milky Way photo contest features its first winning image taken from space

Yahoo20-05-2025
The winners of the 2025 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest have been announced, highlighting epic imagery of the Milky Way from around the world, and even from above it. The contest, hosted by travel photography blog Capture the Atlas, is in its eighth year.
This year, the contest received 6,000 entries from photographers of 16 different nationalities. Images spanned 25 locations around the globe, including Chile, the United States, Greece, Switzerland, Guatemala, New Zealand, Taiwan, Yemen, Chad, India, Namibia, Spain and more. Plus, an image taken from space was included in the collection for the first time. Some photos captured celestial events like a comet, a meteor shower and a lunar eclipse.
Dan Zafra, the editor of Capture the Atlas, curates the annual list based on image quality, the story behind the shot and the overall inspiration it provides. Zafra says the project's goal is to inspire people to connect with the night sky and "to encourage photographers to explore and photograph the Milky Way from new angles."
You can see all of the winning images at Capture the Atlas, along with tips on how and where to photograph the Milky Way.
Photographer: Don Pettit
Image title: One in a Billion
Image location: ISS (International Space Station)
Camera settings: 8 sec, F1.4, ISO 6400
Gear: Nikon Z9, Sigma 14mm F1.4. Sky Watcher modified tracker
Caption: I float in the Cupola, looking out the seven windows composing this faceted transparent jewel. While my mind is submerged in contemplation, my eyes gorge on the dim reflections from a nighttime Earth. There are over eight billion people that call this planet home. There are seven of us that can say the same for Space Station. What a privilege it is to be here. I used an orbital star tracker to take out the star streak motion from orbit.
Photographer: Petr Horálek
Image title: Tololo Lunar Eclipse
Image location: Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile
Camera settings: ISO 8000, 81 x 10 sec (single exposures stitched to panorama). Moon is result of HDR work.
Gear: Canon Ra, Sigma Art 35mm F1.8
Caption: On March 14, 2025, a total lunar eclipse occurred, especially visible over the Americas and the Pacific Ocean. I was fortunate to observe this particular eclipse from the NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. You can see how epic the sky was during totality, as the Moon darkened enough for the majestic Milky Way, the faint belt of Zodiacal Light, and prominent airglow to stand out.
Photographer: Mike Abramyan
Image title: Boot Arch Perseids
Image location: Alabama Hills, CA, USA
Camera settings: Sky: Mosaic of 9 images at 50mm, 92 sec, F2, ISO 400; Foreground: Mosaic of 4 images at 50mm, 92 sec, F2.8, ISO 400; Meteors: 14mm, 15 sec, F1.8, ISO 400
Gear: Sony A7IV Astromodified, Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM, Benro Polaris, Leofoto LS-324C, Sony A7IV, Sony 14mm 1.8 GM
Caption: The Perseid Meteor Shower occurs every August, raining down hundreds of meteors over a few nights. In 2024, I had planned to photograph it from the Canadian Rockies, but wildfires forced me to change my plans at the last minute. After checking wildfire maps, I found a safe haven in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
After three full nights of capturing meteors, I created this image. Sitting on the rock is my friend Arne, who often joins me on these adventures, gazing up at the magnificent core of our galaxy. Each meteor is painstakingly aligned to its true location in the night sky. The final depiction shows all the meteors I captured, combined into one frame—as if the Earth hadn't been rotating and all the meteors had fallen at once.
Photographer: Benjamin Barakat
Image title: Bottle Tree Paradise
Image location: Socotra, Yemen
Camera settings: Foreground (blue hour): 10 sec, F8, ISO 400; Sky: 5x 120 sec, F2.0, ISO 400
Gear: Sony A7IV, Sony 14mm F1.8, Sunwayfoto T2840CK, MSM Nomad
Caption: Socotra is one of my favorite places on Earth, but when it comes to a specific location, this one stands out. It doesn't have an official name, as it's not a destination for the few fortunate tourists who visit Socotra. After shooting there for the past four years and scouting the island, I've discovered hidden gems like this one, which I call Bottle Tree Paradise.
Bottle trees are unique to Socotra, a result of the island's long isolation from the mainland. This separation allowed them to evolve distinctive features, such as their water-storing, bottle-shaped trunks, which help them survive Socotra's harsh, dry climate. They are believed to have originated from ancient plant species that adapted to the island's unique environment over millions of years.
Photographer: Angel Fux
Image title: Double Milky Way Arch Over Matterhorn
Image location: Zermatt, Switzerland
Camera settings: Both arches share the same Exif: 20mm, F5.6, 127 sec, ISO 2500; Foreground / Landscape: 15.5mm, F5, 1/5 sec, ISO 800
Gear: Nikon Z6 Astromodified (for the sky part), NIKKOR Z 20mm F1.8, Nikon Z8 (for the landscape part), NIKKOR Z 14-24mm F2.8, Benro Polaris Astro Kit, Peak Design travel tripod
Caption: This image captures the rare Double Arch Milky Way, where both the Winter Milky Way (with Orion rising) and the Summer Milky Way (with the Galactic Center) appear in the same night—a seamless transition between seasons.
Taken at 3,200 meters in the heart of winter, the night was brutally cold, testing both my endurance and equipment. This is a time blend, preserving the real positions of both arches by combining frames taken hours apart, with the foreground captured at dawn for the best detail.
Zermatt and the Matterhorn have been photographed countless times, but I aimed to create something truly unique—an image captured under conditions few would attempt. I'm incredibly proud of the effort and patience it took to bring this vision to life.
Photographer: Pablo Ruiz
Image title: Valle de los Cactus
Image location: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Camera settings: Sky: 9 x 240 sec, F2.8, ISO 800, 14mm; Foreground: 9 x 120 sec, F2.8, ISO 2500, 14mm
Gear: Nikon D810, Nikon Z6 A, Nikkor 14-24 F2.8 ,Rollei Gamma, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer
Caption: A panoramic shot of the Milky Way in a remote area of the Atacama Cactus Valley, known for its large concentration of cactus plants. I love this place with its countless possibilities. The panorama was taken just as the galactic center began to rise, with the spectacular Gum Nebula visible on the right.
It was an especially bright night with a breathtaking sky. The valley isn't easy to navigate, but it's always worth trying to find new compositions in such stunning locations beneath the night sky.
Photographer: Sergio Montúfar
Image title: Cosmic Fire
Image location: Volcán Acatenango, Guatemala
Camera settings: 10 sec, F2.8, ISO 3200
Gear: Canon 6d Astromodified, Samyang 24mm F1.4, Sirui tripod
Caption: On the early morning of June 2, 2024, I summited Acatenango Volcano for the first time, hoping to witness the fiery beauty of the neighboring Volcan de Fuego against the Milky Way's backdrop. That night, the volcano was incredibly active—each thunderous explosion reverberated in my chest, while glowing lava illuminated the dark slopes. Above, the Milky Way stretched diagonally across the sky, a mesmerizing band of stars contrasting with the chaos below. As the volcano erupted, the ash plume rose vertically, forming an acute angle of about 45 degrees with the galaxy's diagonal path, creating a stunning visual contrast between Earth's fury and the cosmos' serenity.
Capturing this required a fast, wide-angle lens (f/2.8), an ISO of 3200, and a 10-second exposure to balance the volcanic glow with the starlight. The challenge was timing the shot during a new moon and aligning the right moment for the Milky Way to cross the frame next to the volcano. I used Lightroom as the editor. This image is special for its storytelling—the raw power of Volcan de Fuego meeting the tranquil expanse of the galaxy.
Photographer: Max Inwood
Image title: A Sea of Lupines
Image location: Lake Tekapo, New Zealand
Camera settings: Sky: 30 sec, F2.0, ISO 3200; Foreground: 30 sec, F2.4, ISO 6400
Gear: Canon 6D Astromodified, Sigma 28mm F1.4 Art, Samyang 14mm F1.4 XP, iOption SkyGuider Pro
Caption: The annual lupine bloom in New Zealand is spectacular, with fields of colorful flowers stretching across the Mackenzie Basin. This region, located in the heart of the South Island, is renowned for its dark skies, making the scene even more surreal at night.
I had to wait until the early hours of the morning for the wind to calm down, but eventually everything became still, and I was able to capture this image. Above the flowers, you can see the band of the outer Milky Way, alongside the constellations Orion, Gemini, and the Pleiades. Joining them are the bright planets Jupiter and Mars, with a strong display of green airglow visible along the horizon.
Photographer: Brent Martin
Image title: Diamond Beach Emerald Sky
Image location: Great Ocean Road, Australia
Camera settings: Sky: 13 frames x 3 rows, @ 20mm, F3.5, ISO 1600, 60 sec tracked exposures; Foreground: 13 frames x 2 rows, @ 20mm, F2.5, ISO 1600, 60 sec exposures.
Gear: Sony A7III Astromodified, Sony 20mm F1.8 G, Sky-watcher Star Adventurer 2i
Caption: With a clear night forecast and the Milky Way core returning for 2025, I set out to explore the Great Ocean Road. After a few setbacks—such as a failed composition and getting the car stuck on a sandy track—I almost gave up. However, I pushed on and found a great spot above the beach to capture the scene.
The night was full of color, with Comet C/2024 G3 Atlas and a pink aurora in the early hours, followed by the Milky Way rising amid intense green airglow near dawn. Despite the challenges, the reward of this stunning image and the memory of the view made it all worthwhile.
Photographer: Ethan Su
Image title: Blossom
Image location: Hehuan Mountain Dark Sky Park, Taiwan
Camera settings: Sky: 1 row tracked panorama at F2, 90sec, ISO 800; Foreground: 2 row panorama and focus stack, F2.8, 60 sec, ISO 6400; 65 images in total.
Gear:
Caption: After three years of waiting, the Yushan alpine rhododendrons are finally in bloom once again on Taiwan's 3,000-meter-high Hehuan Mountain. On this special night, distant clouds helped block city light pollution, revealing an exceptionally clear view of the Milky Way. A solar flare from active region AR3664 reached Earth that evening, intensifying the airglow and adding an otherworldly touch to the sky.
Together, these rare natural events created a breathtaking scene—vivid blooms glowing softly beneath a star-filled sky.
Photographer: Rositsa Dimitrova
Image title: The Night Guardians
Image location: Easter Island, Chile
Camera settings: Blend of 2 shots: foreground: 88 sec, F3.5, ISO 3200; sky: 20 sec, F2.0, ISO 2000
Gear: Sony A7iii Astromodified, Sony GM 14mm F1.8
Caption: Easter Island had been on my bucket list for a long time, and it once seemed almost impossible to reach. On our first night there, the weather forecast looked promising, so we decided to go ahead with the tour our group had booked 4–5 months earlier. However, Rapa Nui sits in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where the weather is notoriously unpredictable. When we woke up at 3 a.m. in our hotel, the sky was completely covered in clouds. Still, we decided to take the risk, knowing the forecast for the next few nights was even worse.
An hour later, we were frantically photographing the statues at Rano Raraku—the quarry where nearly all of the island's 900 statues were carved—when the sky suddenly began to clear. By 5 a.m., it was completely clear, and we had less than two hours to capture all the shots we wanted. We felt incredibly lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
Photographer: Kavan Chay
Image title: Evolution of Stars
Image location: Otago, New Zealand
Camera settings: Sky RGB: 4 frames x 3 rows, each shot at 40mm, F1.8, ISO 1250, 50 second exposures; Sky (Rho region): Stack of 10 frames, each shot at 40mm, F1.8, ISO 1250, 60 second exposures; Foreground: 4 frames x 3 rows, each shot at 40mm, F4, ISO 2000, 60 second exposures.
Gear: Nikon Z7 (astromodified), Sigma Art 40mm F1.4, Benro GX-35 ballhead, Sirui AM-254 tripod legs, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro 2i
Caption: The first image I captured from this spot is the one I feel truly kickstarted my astrophotography journey years ago. It was the first time I shot a tracked panorama using a 'longer' focal length lens (50mm). The set of sea stacks provided a prominent foreground subject facing the right direction, and being a local spot relatively free of light pollution, it was the perfect location to capture the Milky Way core.
It felt fitting to try again with a few extra years of experience and an astro-modified camera, which allows for easier capture of hydrogen-alpha-rich regions of the sky (like the reddish nebulae around Zeta Ophiuchi, as seen in the image). The years of experience certainly made panoramic shooting and editing easier, though the shoot wasn't without its challenges.
I managed to drop a tiny screw adapter in the dark, so I had to improvise a quick solution to make use of the star tracker. With a dying headlamp and the mysteries of wildlife lurking in the dark, all while the tide rapidly rose, it felt like enough adventure for a weekday night.
Photographer: Uroš Fink
Image title: Winter Fairy Tale
Image location: Dobratsch Nature Park, Austria
Camera settings: Sky: ISO 800, F1.8, 90 sec, 8 panels, low exposure frames for brighter sky parts (30 sec) + lee soft 5 for stars (ISO 3200, F1.8, 20 sec); Foreground: ISO 1250, F2.2, 80s, 8 panels + multi exposure frames for lightning the hut (80 sec, 20 sec,10 sec,5 sec,2 sec,1 sec)
Gear: Nikon Z, Sigma 20mm 1.4 Dg Dn, Megadap tze21, Fornax Lightrack 2i, Sunwayfoto t3240ck, Lee soft 5 filter for stars, Focus on star mask
Caption: Undoubtedly my wildest location this winter: Austria's Dobratsch mountain! If I had to describe it in two words, it would be a 'Winter Fairytale'!
Despite a 5 a.m. work shift, I drove to Austria by 1 p.m., worried about my fitness and lack of sleep. After a 2-hour hike through the snow with a 22kg backpack and sled, the stunning views kept me energized.
Arriving at the cabin (where I had planned my winter panorama two years ago), I was greeted by untouched snow, completely free of footprints. I spent the evening exploring compositions, and this is my favorite: a panorama of the winter Milky Way with reddish nebulae, stretching above Dobratsch Mountain.
I captured the Zodiacal light and even the Gegenschein glow! The sky was magnificent, with Jupiter and Mars shining brightly. In the foreground is the cabin, where I spent 3 freezing hours (-12°C), waiting for the perfect shot of the Milky Way's core. It turned out exactly as I envisioned—a true winter fairytale.
Photographer: Vikas Chander
Image title: Echiwile Arch
Image location: Ennedi, Chad
Camera settings: Sky Exposure: 300 sec, F2.8, ISO 800, stack of 6; Foreground exposure: 480 sec, F2.8, ISO 800, LENR, LLL; Software: Pixinsight and Photoshop
Gear: Sony A7rV Ha modded, Sony 12-24 F2.8 GM, Rainbow Astro RST 135e
Caption: When one first Googles information about visiting Chad, the results aren't very encouraging from a safety perspective. Nevertheless, the intrepid astrophotographer in me decided to take the chance and visit this landlocked country, specifically the Ennedi Massif in the north.
Sparsely populated and completely devoid of light pollution, the three-day drive from the capital, N'Djamena, was well worth the troubles and risks involved. The region is filled with numerous rock formations, shapes, and arches, offering an abundance of options for foreground elements to frame the dramatic night skies. Seen here is a small arch in the shape of a hoof in the Ennedi region.
Photographer: Xingyang Cai
Image title: Starlit Ocean: A Comet, the setting Venus, the Milky Way, and McWay Falls
Image location: California, USA
Camera settings: Sky: Stack of 20 images, each at ISO 1600, F1.4, 4 sec; Foreground: Stack of 10 images, each at ISO 3200, F1.4, 20 sec
Gear: Sony A7 III (astro-modified), Sony 14mm F1.4
Caption: Capturing this image was a race against time, light, and distance. With Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS (C/2023 A3) making its approach, I knew I had a rare opportunity to see it with the naked eye before it faded into the cosmos. I embarked on a five-hour round trip to McWay Falls in Big Sur, one of the few Bortle 2 locations accessible along California's coast. My window was narrow—just six precious minutes of true darkness before the Moon rose and washed out the night sky. But those six minutes were unforgettable.
In that brief span, the Milky Way arched high above the Pacific, Venus shimmered as it set over the ocean, and the comet streaked quietly across the sky—a celestial visitor gracing this iconic coastal cove. The soft cascade of McWay Falls and the stillness of the starlit ocean created a surreal harmony between Earth and sky. It was one of the most vivid and humbling naked-eye comet sightings I've ever experienced—an alignment of cosmic elements that felt both fleeting and eternal.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

See the ISS make bright flight over eastern U.S., Canada on Thursday
See the ISS make bright flight over eastern U.S., Canada on Thursday

UPI

time11 hours ago

  • UPI

See the ISS make bright flight over eastern U.S., Canada on Thursday

NASA spacewalker and Expedition 64 The International Space Station will be visible to the naked eye for several minutes on Thursday for many in the eastern United States, starting around 9:23 p.m. EDT in the northwestern sky. File Photo (2021) by NASA | License Photo The International Space Station will fly over the eastern United States and parts of Canada just after sunset on Thursday evening, an easy-to-see event for millions of residents across the region. The station will be visible for several minutes, starting around 9:23 p.m. EDT in the northwestern sky, before reaching its highest point around 9:26 p.m. It will eventually disappear from sight by 9:29 p.m. People in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., and many other cities and towns across the region should be able to spot the ISS as it passes overhead. No telescope is needed to see the station, but cloud-free conditions are necessary. Unlike small satellites or faint stars, the ISS is easy to find in the sky. It looks like a steadily moving white light, brighter than most stars and planets, and it doesn't blink like airplanes. The orbiting outpost is currently home to seven astronauts and circles the Earth at about 260 miles up, traveling around 17,500 mph. It completes one orbit around the Earth in roughly 90 minutes. Additional viewing opportunities will follow through the weekend, although the times and paths will shift each night. People interested in seeing the upcoming passes can check NASA's Spot the Station website.

See the ISS make bright flight over eastern US, Canada Thursday evening
See the ISS make bright flight over eastern US, Canada Thursday evening

Yahoo

time11 hours ago

  • Yahoo

See the ISS make bright flight over eastern US, Canada Thursday evening

The International Space Station (ISS) will fly over the eastern United States and parts of Canada just after sunset on Thursday evening, an easy-to-see event for millions of residents across the region. The station will be visible for several minutes, starting around 9:23 p.m. EDT in the northwestern sky, before reaching its highest point around 9:26 p.m. It will eventually disappear from sight by 9:29 p.m. People in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., and many other cities and towns across the region should be able to spot the ISS as it passes overhead. No telescope is needed to see the station, but cloud-free conditions are necessary. Unlike small satellites or faint stars, the ISS is easy to find in the sky. It looks like a steadily moving white light, brighter than most stars and planets, and it doesn't blink like airplanes. The orbiting outpost is currently home to seven astronauts and circles the Earth at about 260 miles up, traveling around 17,500 mph. It completes one orbit around the Earth in roughly 90 minutes. Additional viewing opportunities will follow through the weekend, although the times and paths will shift each night. People interested in seeing the upcoming passes can check NASA's Spot the Station website. Solve the daily Crossword

NASA Is Watching a Huge Anomaly Growing in Earth's Magnetic Field
NASA Is Watching a Huge Anomaly Growing in Earth's Magnetic Field

Yahoo

time13 hours ago

  • Yahoo

NASA Is Watching a Huge Anomaly Growing in Earth's Magnetic Field

For years, NASA has monitored a strange anomaly in Earth's magnetic field: a giant region of lower magnetic intensity in the skies above the planet, stretching out between South America and southwest Africa. This vast, developing phenomenon, called the South Atlantic Anomaly, has intrigued and concerned scientists for years, and perhaps none more so than NASA researchers. The space agency's satellites and spacecraft are particularly vulnerable to the weakened magnetic field strength within the anomaly, and the resulting exposure to charged particles from the Sun. The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) – likened by NASA to a 'dent' in Earth's magnetic field, or a kind of 'pothole in space' – generally doesn't affect life on Earth, but the same can't be said for orbital spacecraft (including the International Space Station), which pass directly through the anomaly as they loop around the planet at low-Earth orbit altitudes. During these encounters, the reduced magnetic field strength inside the anomaly means technological systems onboard satellites can short-circuit and malfunction if they become struck by high-energy protons emanating from the Sun. Related: These random hits may usually only produce low-level glitches, but they do carry the risk of causing significant data loss, or even permanent damage to key components – threats obliging satellite operators to routinely shut down spacecraft systems before spacecraft enter the anomaly zone. Mitigating those hazards in space is one reason NASA is tracking the SAA; another is that the mystery of the anomaly represents a great opportunity to investigate a complex and difficult-to-understand phenomenon, and NASA's broad resources and research groups are uniquely well-appointed to study the occurrence. "The magnetic field is actually a superposition of fields from many current sources," geophysicist Terry Sabaka from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland explained in 2020. The primary source is considered to be a swirling ocean of molten iron inside Earth's outer core, thousands of kilometers below the ground. The movement of that mass generates electrical currents that create Earth's magnetic field, but not necessarily uniformly, it seems. A huge reservoir of dense rock called the African Large Low Shear Velocity Province, located about 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the African continent, is thought to disturb the field's generation, resulting in the dramatic weakening effect – which is aided by the tilt of the planet's magnetic axis. "The observed SAA can be also interpreted as a consequence of weakening dominance of the dipole field in the region," said NASA Goddard geophysicist and mathematician Weijia Kuang in 2020. "More specifically, a localized field with reversed polarity grows strongly in the SAA region, thus making the field intensity very weak, weaker than that of the surrounding regions." Satellite data suggesting the SAA is dividing. (Division of Geomagnetism, DTU Space) While there's much scientists still don't fully understand about the anomaly and its implications, new insights are continually shedding light on this strange phenomenon. For example, one study led by NASA heliophysicist Ashley Greeley in 2016 revealed the SAA slowly drifts around, which was confirmed by subsequent tracking from CubeSats in research published in 2021. It's not just moving, however. Even more remarkably, the phenomenon seems to be in the process of splitting in two, with researchers in 2020 discovering that the SAA appeared to be dividing into two distinct cells, each representing a separate center of minimum magnetic intensity within the greater anomaly. Just what that means for the future of the SAA remains unknown, but in any case, there's evidence to suggest that the anomaly is not a new appearance. A study published in July 2020 suggested the phenomenon is not a freak event of recent times, but a recurrent magnetic event that may have affected Earth since as far back as 11 million years ago. If so, that could signal that the South Atlantic Anomaly is not a trigger or precursor to the entire planet's magnetic field flipping, which is something that actually happens, if not for hundreds of thousands of years at a time. A more recent study published in 2024 found the SAA also has an impact on auroras seen on Earth. Obviously, huge questions remain, but with so much going on with this vast magnetic oddity, it's good to know the world's most powerful space agency is watching it as closely as they are. "Even though the SAA is slow-moving, it is going through some change in morphology, so it's also important that we keep observing it by having continued missions," said Sabaka. "Because that's what helps us make models and predictions." An earlier version of this article was published in August 2020. Related News Jaw-Dropping Image Reveals Dying Stars Entangled Like Serpents This Could Be The First Witnessed Birth of a Supermassive Black Hole Surprise Cosmic Clouds Likened to Finding Ice Cubes in a Volcano Solve the daily Crossword

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store