4 days ago
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.
