{"id":78536,"date":"2025-08-18T11:12:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/78536\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T11:12:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:12:13","slug":"see-the-best-night-sky-images-from-capture-the-dark-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/78536\/","title":{"rendered":"See the best night sky images from Capture the Dark 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Sign up for the Starts With a Bang newsletter <\/p>\n

\n Travel the universe with Dr. Ethan Siegel as he answers the biggest questions of all. <\/p>\n

For practically all of natural history, the night sky was pristine.<\/p>\n

\"Panoramic<\/p>\n

This expansive photograph showcases the Milky Way, the two Magellanic Clouds, and several other impressive celestial features at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Although it\u2019s located at an impressive 2200 meters (7200 feet) above sea level, many other mountains within the Andes mountain range have even higher altitude summits.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Samara Nagle\/NRAO<\/p>\n

Post-sunset, only the Moon, stars, planets, and Milky Way illuminated the heavens.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Under a pristine night sky, the Milky Way\u2019s center casts shadows. As light pollution worsens, nebulosity and stars disappear, until maybe a few dozen stars remain. The numbers 1 through 9 are the Bortle scale, which provides observers with a metric to measure the darkness and clarity of the sky overhead at their location. Only a few locations remain on Earth with pristine, dark skies.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: ESO\/P. Hor\u00e1lek; M. Wallner<\/p>\n

However, the dawn of electrification has resulted in a huge loss of darkness.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This map of the world depicts light pollution as a function of geographic location. Every location with a yellow-or-brighter coloring has more brightness coming from the ground than the natural sky, highlighting the severity of light pollution across the world, particularly in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Falchi et al., Science Advances, including Dan Duriscoe\/NPS; Bob Meadows\/NPS; Jakob Grothe\/NPS contractor, and Matthew Price\/CIRES and CU-Boulder<\/p>\n

Additionally, satellite megaconstellations create thousands of interference-rich bright streaks.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

This image, taken on August 10, 2022, shows the results of a stacked set of images of the same region of sky, the nebula Sharpless 150 (SH2-150), taken over a single night. The streaks result from satellites passing through this one field-of-view over the course of one night alone.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Fegato\/Cloudy Nights<\/p>\n

Efficient, low-pollution lighting plans<\/a> can mitigate those losses<\/a>, but haven\u2019t been widely adopted.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

The greater the amount of light that gets shunted upward or horizontally, the more light pollution will be emitted by a fixture. The best light fixtures will shunt all their light downward, toward the ground, as shown at right. However, the most common types of fixtures are the ones closer to the left of the diagram.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Dwayne Kula\/LED Lighting Supply<\/p>\n

To raise awareness, DarkSky International<\/a> created a photo contest: Capture the Dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/p>\n

This animation changes between two 30-second exposure images taken with the same camera from a protected dark-sky site (at the summit of La Palma, dark) and from a typical modern rural sky (in Washington State near Mt. St. Helens, blue). The difference between the two images, as well as the difference in total sky brightness, is profound.\n<\/p>\n

Credit: E. Siegel, 2025<\/p>\n

Over 2200 entrants competed in 2025\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

One of the special categories in the 2025 DarkSky International photo contest was the \u201cVisit Tucson Location Award,\u201d where this photo won 1st place. The starry sky is opposed by terrestrial green lights: those emitted by the southwest synchronous firefly, photographed here in Tumac\u00e1cori.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Celeste Boudreaux<\/p>\n

Winners from across eight categories, plus three special awards, are highlighted here.<\/p>\n

\"Colorful<\/p>\n

High School student Michael Telesco captured this outstanding view of the Dolphin Head nebula, also known as Sharpless 2-308, showcases a bubble-like ionized feature surrounding the bright Wolf-Rayet star EZ Canis Majoris. This photo was awarded 3rd place in the Young Astrophotographers category, showcasing what can be captured even from the relatively high light polluted region of the Florida Keys.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Michael Telesco<\/p>\n

JJ Rao<\/a>\u2018s red sprites won 1st place in the Capture the Dark category.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

The large sprites captured here are phantasmal when glimpsed with human eyes, as they persist for only a hundredth of a second. Because they are so brief, they require extremely dark skies to be captured. This was the 1st place winner in the \u201cCapture the Dark\u201d category, arguably the most competitive category in the 2025 DarkSky International photo contest.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: JJ Rao<\/p>\n

M\u00f3nica Mesa<\/a>\u2018s aurorae took second.<\/p>\n

\"Bright<\/p>\n

One of several award-winning photos involving aurorae in this year\u2019s contest, this photograph, titled \u201cWhispers of the Dancing Auroras,\u201d was taken in Iceland and won 2nd place in the \u201cCapture the Dark\u201d category. The sky and the foreground were captured with different length exposures and different camera settings.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: M\u00f3nica Mesa<\/p>\n

Panoramas dominated the International Dark Sky Places category.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This panorama, taken at the entrance to the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve in New Zealand, showcases one of the most significant dark sky reserves on Earth. The bright, blue stars found near the galactic plane shine brilliantly overhead, while the red regions represent ionized hydrogen\u2019s natural red-colored emissions as the electrons recombine with their atomic nuclei. This submission won 1st place in the International Dark Sky Places category.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Tom Rae<\/p>\n

Horizon glows reveal light pollution, even here.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This glorious 360-degree panorama showcases the \u201ctowards the galactic center\u201d and the \u201caway from the galactic center\u201d directions simultaneously, and won 2nd place in the \u201cInternational Dark Sky Places\u201d category. Note the bright glow near the horizon: evidence of light pollution, even in the relatively pristine location of Death Valley, California.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Dan Zafra<\/p>\n

By not illuminating urban landmarks, city nights shine brighter.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s known as the City of Light, Paris turns off the lights on landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Sacr\u00e9-C\u0153ur, saving energy and reducing light pollution at the same time. This astrophoto won 1st place in the Dark Sky Friendly Lighting and Design category, with this composition known as \u201cParis, Asleep In The Pre-Dawn Hours.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Gwenael Blanck<\/p>\n

Few locations are free from light pollution.<\/p>\n

\"Snow-covered<\/p>\n

This incredible photograph won 1st place in the \u201cThe Impact of Light Pollution\u201d category in the 2025 DarkSky International photo contest. Taken in the French Alps by Ambre de l\u2019AIPe, the cloud-covered valley still glows eerily with the light from the town Chamonix, below, polluting the landscape with its luminance.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Ambre de l\u2019AIPe<\/p>\n

In severe instances, only a few visible stars appear.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Called \u201cTraces of the Stars,\u201d this 2nd-place-winning astrophotography submission in the Light Pollution category highlights just how few stars can be seen from the center of a highly light polluted area, such as Shanghai, China. Whereas many thousands of stars can be seen by the naked eye from a true dark sky site, as few as a couple of dozen stars can be spotted from the most heavily light polluted areas on Earth.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Xin Wang<\/p>\n

Additionally, satellite interference of star fields is ubiquitous.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Astrophotographer Shi Pu captured this 3rd-place-winning image of Messier 101 (the Pinwheel galaxy) against its background star field, only to find a large number of satellite streaks, some brighter than others, polluting his image. Since the rise of satellite megaconstellations in 2019, this new type of space pollution has interfered with night sky observations across the electromagnetic spectrum for professional and amateur astronomers alike.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Shi Pu<\/p>\n

There was a remarkable \u201cCreatures of the Night\u201d category.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This fluorescent scorpion, photographed in the desert of Mexico, is the focus of this image, while the constellation of Scorpius shines, blurry, in the background. This image was the 1st place awardee in the category of \u201cCreatures of the Night\u201d in DarkSky International\u2019s 2025 photo contest.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Oscar Leonardo Chavez Torres<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung Astrophotographers\u201d got its own category as well.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Teenage astrophotographer Old\u0159ich \u0160p\u016frek captured this photo of a panoramic Milky Way over Jizerka, the highest-altitude village in the Czech Republic. Titled Gems of Jizerka, this is the 1st place-winning submission in the Young Astrophotographers category for 2025\u2019s DarkSky International photo contest.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Old\u0159ich \u0160p\u016frek<\/p>\n

Mobile photography shone bright for aurorae,<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

During a trip to Iceland, mobile astrophotographer Sadeq Hayati captured this 1st-place-winning photo of a multicolored, dancing aurora with a large rock formation (and a human beneath it) silhouetted in front of the night sky.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Sadeq Hayati<\/p>\n

and for capturing luminance from solar winds.<\/p>\n

\"Salt<\/p>\n

This submission from Katrina Brown won 3rd place in the Mobile Astrophotography category, showcasing the salt flats (below) and the colors that the solar wind induce in the atmosphere (above, and in reflection, below) here on Earth. One sixteen second exposure was all it took to capture this iconic sight.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Katrina Brown<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep Sky Observations\u201d highlighted my three personal favorites.<\/p>\n

\"Colorful<\/p>\n

This mosaic of the Vela Supernova Remnant reveals a complex, layered structure from the primary emission signals of the nebula itself. Astrophotographer Alpha Zhang took a whopping 1310 frames totaling ~109 hours of exposure time to create this mosaic, the 1st place winner in the Deep Sky Observations category of 2025\u2019s DarkSky International photo contest.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Alpha Zhang
\n\"Colorful<\/p>\n

Winning 2nd place in the Deep Sky Observations category under the submission Furnace of Life, this view of the Rosette Nebula, a young star cluster inside a star-forming region, highlights the ionized features of hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur gases. All told, 225 separate frames of 10 minutes each were used in the creation of this image.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Rod Prazeres
\n\"A<\/p>\n

Leveraging a whopping 27 hours and 15 minutes of exposure time across 327 separate frames, this stacked view of the Horsehead Nebula in the constellation of Orion showcases several bright, young stars, the extended emission of hydrogen atoms, and the brilliant reflection feature of the Flame Nebula all alongside one another.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Tiffany Effinger<\/p>\n

See all the winners here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This photo of Comet C\/2023 A3 and the Milky Way showcases two features that were invisible to young astrophotographer Siddharth Patel\u2019s eyes from the city where he lived, so he and his family drove to Fingal, Ontario, where skies are darker. There, he acquired this image, which won the 1st place in the special People\u2019s Choice Award category.\n<\/p>\n

Credit<\/a>: Siddharth Patel<\/p>\n

Mostly Mute Monday tells an astronomical story in images, visuals, and no more than 200 words.<\/p>\n

\n Sign up for the Starts With a Bang newsletter <\/p>\n

\n Travel the universe with Dr. Ethan Siegel as he answers the biggest questions of all. <\/p>\n