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Irish Independent
20-07-2025
- Science
- Irish Independent
Wicklow astro-photographer continues to reach for the stars
The competition aims to find the best astro-photographs taken in Ireland over the past year. Edna Kelly from Wicklow town has a longstanding history in the competition and has been shortlisted this year in the Out of This World planetary category for his entry titled Moon Opposition Season from October to April. Each frame in this composite captures Mars on a different night, revealing how its apparent size, brightness, and surface detail evolved over time. The central image shows Mars at opposition in January 2025, when it was at its most striking. Arranged chronologically, the sequence also hints at the subtle arc of retrograde motion—a visual illusion caused by Earth overtaking Mars in its orbit, making the red planet appear to reverse direction in the sky before resuming its path. In 2023, Enda was awarded the runner-up prize in the Out of This World category for his image When the planets align. Lunar occultation of Mars, which depicted the full moon as it concealed Mars from view by passing in front of it, and captured Mars just before it disappeared behind the moon from our perspective on earth. Enda also had two of his images selected last year as part of the competition to feature in an outdoor exhibition organised by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. While a high-profile judging panel will select the overall winning entries, an online vote is open for members of the public to view the images and vote for their favourite in the Public Choice Award. Enda will be looking for plenty of Wicklow support and you can visit in order to cast your vote. Voting is open until 5pm on Thursday, July 24, and is restricted to one vote per person. Alongside the Public Choice Award, the overall winners will be chosen by the judging panel which includes Professor Peter Gallagher, Head of Astrophysics at DIAS; Michael McCreary, president of the Irish Astronomical Society; Dr Lisa McNamee co-founder Space Medicine Ireland and Alan Betson, Irish Times photographer and multiple winner of the Press Photographer of the Year award. The winning images selected by the judging panel and the Public Choice Award will be announced in August with an accompanying outdoor exhibition being held at DIAS HQ on Dublin's Burlington Road, for a limited time.
Irish Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
‘Reach for the stars': Organisers of astrophotography competition want public to capture the magic of the heavens
Ireland's biggest astrophotography competition is now open for entries. This year, for the first time, under-18s can enter the smartphone category, 'Night Sky in your Hand', which is open for images taken only with a smartphone of an astronomical scene and without telescopes. Other categories are: 'Out of this World' – Planetary; 'Out of this World' – Deep Sky; 'Back on Earth' – Landscape; and 'Back on Earth' – Landmark. The Reach for the Stars photography competition is organised by the school of astronomy and astrophysics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS). READ MORE Entrants can submit up to two images, taken in Ireland between April 26th last year and June 2nd this year, per category. The deadline for entries is 5pm on June 4th. Shortlisted entrants will be announced in late June. The public are also invited to vote for their favourite to win the people's choice category. The judging panel is made up of: Alan Betson, The Irish Times; Michael McCreary, president, Irish Astronomical Society; Professor Peter Gallagher, senior professor and head of astronomy and astrophysics at DIAS; and Dr Lisa McNamee, co-founder, Space Medicine Ireland. The winning photographers in the 'Out of this World' and 'Back on Earth' categories will have their images published on the DIAS and The Irish Times websites and receive passes to three sites of the Astronomical Observatories of Ireland, a €500 voucher for photography equipment and a digital subscription to The Irish Times. The winner of the public choice category, as voted for by the public, and the winner of the 'Night Sky in your Hand' category will each get a voucher worth €250 for photography equipment and passes to the three sites of the Astronomical Observatories of Ireland. The winning and highly commended images will also be included in an exhibition at DIAS later this year. All shortlisted images will be included in an online exhibition, for the public vote, on the competition website. DIAS's Reach for the Stars competition is being run in partnership with The Irish Times and is sponsored by MKC Communications and The Astronomical Observatories of Ireland. The Irish Astronomical Society are initiative supporters. More information, including the competition guidelines and entry form, is available at
