The night sky as you've never
seen it before: Stunning photos reveal the beauty and colours of the cosmos in
high definition
·
Photos from astronomy contest showcase
various night sky sights, with the winning photo from the Alps in Italy
·
The incredible images range from auroras
above a waterfall to the Milky Way glistening over a volcano
·
The contest has been organised annually since
2009 by the international programme The World at Night
·
But it is also intended to show how light
pollution is affecting our night skies for the worse
·
The competition encourages photographers 'to
push their cameras to their technical limits' said judge David Malin
Capturing glorious images of the
cosmos is no mean feat; not only do photographers need to have the technical
know-how to focus on celestial objects, but they also have to contend with
light pollution.
That makes the incredible entries
into the 2014 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest all the more impressive
as they showcase the wonders of the night sky.
From a magnificent view of the
Milky Way rising above a volcano in the southern Indian Ocean, to the
enchanting glow of the zodiacal light over the coast of Oregon, the winners of
the fifth annual Earth and Sky Photo Contest highlight the natural beauty of
the universe above our heads.
Scroll down for a video slideshow
of all the winners and other notable entries
+7
The first prize in the Against
the Lights category (and the overall contest winner) went to Giorgia Hofer of
Italy for her photo 'Light in the Sky' taken on 1 January 2014 from Cibiana
Pass in the Dolomites (Alps), northern Italy. It shows part of the Big Dipper
(the prominent part of the Ursa Major constellation) between rays of light
Organised since 2009 by the
international programme The World at Night,
the contest is a collaboration with the science-education group at the National
Optical Astronomy Observatory and Global Astronomy Month, a programme of
Astronomers Without Borders.
THE WORLD
AT NIGHT CONTEST
The World
at Night is a global photography and astronomy outreach program in partnership
with Astronomers Without Borders.
The aim is
to produce and present a collection of stunning photographs of the world’s most
beautiful and historic sites against the night-time backdrop of stars, planets,
and celestial events.
The
eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all symbols of different nations
and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather
than an amalgam of human-designated territories.
The contest entries are so-called
‘nightscape’ images - photographs showing the night sky and the terrestrial
landscape - with special attention to astronomical perspectives and celestial
phenomena.
This is also known as landscape
astrophotography and is sometimes referred to as The World at Night-style
photography.
More...
The contest was open to anyone of
any age, anywhere in the world, and to both professional and amateur or hobby
photographers.
‘This competition encourages
photographers with imagination to push their cameras to their technical limits
and to produce eye-catching images that appear perfectly natural and are
aesthetically pleasing,’ said British-Australian astronomer and judge David
Malin.
‘Hundreds of nightscape
photographers from across the world rose to the challenge, and the panel of
nine judges was ultimately faced with finding the best from almost 800 images.’
‘We are pleased to see
contributions this year from new countries in which night-sky photography is
emerging, as well as nightscape images taken in the countries and areas less
exposed to landscape astrophotographers,’ added Babak Tafreshi, The World at
Night director and co-founder of the contest.
+7
The first prize in the Beauty of
the Night Sky category went to Luc Perrot from Réunion Island of France
(southern Indian Ocean), for his image 'Over the Top' captured on 28 February
2014. In the image a volcano in the Reunion Island peaks out of a sea of clouds
and rests under stars
+7
The second place winner in the
Beauty category was Ben Coffman of Portland, U.S. for his photo 'False Dusk and
Falls at Oregon Coast', taken in February 2014 from Hug Point at the Pacific
Ocean coastline in northern Oregon. It shows a waterfall with zodiacal light
(dust from the atmosphere) in the background
The 10 winners of the fifth Earth
and Sky Photo Contest are from Australia, Austria, China, Egypt, France
(Réunion Island), Iran, Italy, New Zealand, Romania and the United States.
The annual contest follows the
theme of ‘Dark Skies Importance’ to publicise efforts on preserving the night
sky as part of our natural heritage.
The submitted photos were judged
in two categories: ‘Beauty of the Night Sky’ and ‘Against the Lights.’
The winners in the second category
are eye-catching views of night-time illuminations that, while they are
striking and beautiful at first glance, also deliver a message about an nature
is often obstructed by light pollution.
+7
'Reflected Aurora' by Alex Conu
of Romania was the second place winner in the Lights category. Taken on 15
March 2014 from Lofoten Islands in northern Norway the image shows the Aurora
Borealis (or Northern Lights) reflected in the water of a scenic fishing
village after a few stormy days
+7
The third place winner in the
Beauty category was 'Kirkjufell Nights' by Nicholas Roemmelt of Austria for his
capture of aurora over Kirkjufell waterfalls in Iceland in a moonlit night of
March 2014. In the image the aurora can be seen 'sweeping' around the pole
Contest judge and National
Geographic photographer James Richardson said: ‘These images capture the
great ambiguity we feel about the night and night lighting.
‘They are at once beautiful and
beautifully composed.
Today most city skies are
virtually devoid of stars, and the photos in the ‘Against the Lights’ category
illustrate how starry skies are vanishing because of excessive artificial
lighting that scatters into the sky instead of illuminating the ground.
'Both contest categories provide
a visual awareness of the disappearing starry night sky and hopefully an
understanding as to its cause,' said contest co-founder Connie Walker,
associate scientist and education specialist at the National Optical Astronomy
Observatory.
'The added hope is that the
photos will provide an incentive to be more actively involved in reasonable
light pollution solutions and therefore dark skies preservation.'
For photographers hoping to get
involved with the next contest the sixth International Earth & Sky Photo
Contest will be announced in late February 2015 on The World at Night's
website.
Contest submission begins every
year in March and ends on Earth Day on 22 April as part of Global Astronomy
Month.
+7
Third place in the Lights
category went to 'Unlimited Sky' by Majid Ghohroodi of Iran, a February 2014
image from Maranjab Salt Lake near the city of Kashan. 'The winter starry sky
(with constellation Orion in the middle) is merged into light domes of three
major cities in this panorama' said the photographer
+7
'Little Explorer' by Ibrahim
Elawadi of Egypt took fourth place in the Beauty category. It was captured in
November 2013 from desert near Fayoum, about 62 miles (100 kilometres) south of
Cairo. 'This visualises the story of building the future by placing a passion
in the young minds to explore the universe,' he said
No comments:
Post a Comment