A Night at Cap Méchant, Reunion Island — Luc Perrot
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Stars above Lights
Stars in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra (left), and Draco (middle-right)a appear above the city lights of Innsbruck, embraced by the Alps.
The clean air and good sky transparency above this capital of Alps still allow to see starry sky from the mountains at the edge of the city while light pollution has vanished away the sky of the most major cities around the world. The city light has strongly illuminated the inversion layer. — Christoph Malin
Aurora and the Comet
Comet Hale-Bopp and Aurora over a wooden house. — Akira Fujii
Magnificent Sky, Milkyway - Chalikounas, Lake Korission, Corfu
Milky Way over the Italian Alps — Leonardo Orazi
Atlantic Night
Bright planet Jupiter, the band of Milky Way, and summer constellations shine above a port in Brittany, at coastline of Atlantic Ocean. — Laurent Laveder
Ventana del Diablo (Cuenca-España) — © Dani Caxete
Jaw-Dropping Views of Night Sky and Earth Win Photo Contest
Eye-popping images of celestial wonders shining over equally stunning Earth views have won the top spots in the 2013 International Earth and Sky Photo Contest, competition organizers say.
Image 1: 3rd Place in Beauty of the Night Sky category goes to “Meteor Magic” by Shannon Bileski for her March 2013 outstanding capture of a streaking fireball and colorful aurora over a snow-covered lake in Canada. Credit: Shannon Bileski/
Image 2: The overall contest winner and first prize in the Beauty of the Night Sky category goes to Stephane Vetter of France (nuitsacrees.fr), for his March 2013 panoramic photo “Sky above Godafoss” of aurora and the Milky Way over the “Waterfall of the Gods” in Iceland. Credit: Stephane Vetter
Image 3: Fifth place in the Against the Lights category goes to “Golden Gate Star Trails” by Rick Whitacre. A well-done photo sequence has captured star trails above the lights of San Fransisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Credit: Rick Whitacre
The contest, the third annual event held by the landscape astrophotography group The World at Night (TWAN), aims to raise awareness about the importance of dark skies free of light pollution. It honors photos that show both the Earth and sky in all their glory.
Milky Way Below Sea Level
“The photo shows the Milky Way just after twilight from the salt flats of El Gualicho in Patagonia, Argentina. Altitude is 72 meters below sea level. The Milky Way was visible to the naked eye even when the the sky was not totally dark yet. There’re hundreds of stars reflected on the salt too.” — Luis Argerich
Fireball from 5000 Meters High
A fireball (very bright meteor) appears above laguna Cotacotani in Andes mountains as seen from altitude of 5050 meters in Chilean Altiplano near the border of Bolivia. — Stephane Guisard
Side Road Comet Chasing
Just before the morning twilight stargazers arrived at this city suburb site near Perth in the Western Australia to enjoy the spectacular view of comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3). — John Goldsmith
Devils Tower Milky Way and Aurora
“Shooting the Milky Way in the early hours of 5/7/2013, It was a spectacular night for stargazing. Upon editing I realized I caught some very faint red Aurora on the horizon and also a satellite that grazes the top of Devils Tower.” — Brennan Jontz
Playing with the Crescent Moon-Jupiter conjunction — Stefano De Rosa
Orion and Winter Triangle
In a moonlit winter night of Hungary, stars of constellations Orion, Canis Major (the Great Dog), and Canis Minor (Little Dog) appear above an ancient castle ruins in Veszprem county.
Three brighter stars of this part of the sky forms a large asterism known as the Winter Triangle. — Tamas Ladanayi
