{"id":399868,"date":"2026-04-15T14:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/399868\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:38:17","slug":"astrophotographers-capture-irelands-night-skies-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/399868\/","title":{"rendered":"Astrophotographers capture Ireland\u2019s night skies \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Reach for the Stars Astrophotography Competition return for another year to invite people across Ireland to pause, look up, and capture the moments that remind us to reflect on the extraordinary nature of our night sky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Organised this year by the school of cosmic physics at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/dublin-institute-for-advanced-studies\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/dublin-institute-for-advanced-studies\/\">Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies<\/a> (DIAS), the competition aims to find the best astrophotographs taken in Ireland between June 3rd, 2025 and May 5th, 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Photographs can be entered in three categories:<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">1. Night Sky in Your Hand \u2013 Images taken with a smartphone only, without telescopes, capturing an astronomical scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">2. Out of this World \u2013 Images of astronomical objects, including the sun, moon, planets, and deep-sky objects such as nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">3. Back on Earth \u2013 Images that depict astronomical features alongside landscapes, landmarks, nature, buildings, or heritage sites.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In addition, one overall public choice winner will be selected by public vote from across the shortlisted entries in all categories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Entrants may submit up to two images per category to the competition. The deadline for entries is 5pm, May 6th. Shortlisted entrants will be announced in late June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Entries will be judged by Dan Dennison, visual editor, The Irish Times; Donnacha O\u2019Driscoll, president of the Irish Astronomical Society; Prof Peter Gallagher, senior professor and head of astronomy and astrophysics at DIAS, and Dr Niamh Shaw, scientist, engineer, and one of Ireland\u2019s leading science communicators.<\/p>\n<p>Winners 2025<img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Symmetry, by Anthony Lynch, winner of the Public Choice award\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2GA4ADSUEFHVFAGKB5XI3FREGQ.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Symmetry, by Anthony Lynch, winner of the Public Choice award <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"In All Its Glory, a picture of the Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS by Brian O'Halloran, won the Out of this World Planetary category\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/TGRCEOPO2ZCV5BD6OZQ2C6QZ7E.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"1422\"\/>In All Its Glory, a picture of the Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS by Brian O&#8217;Halloran, won the Out of this World Planetary category <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Martin McCormack took home the Out of this World Deep Sky prize for his shot, Winter Nebula in Bloom\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BSCVBW2ZUFF4DJC5N4SOCOE3CA.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"449\"\/>Martin McCormack took home the Out of this World Deep Sky prize for his shot, Winter Nebula in Bloom <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"The Voyager, by Liam Reddall, was the winner of the Back on Earth Landmark prize\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PCM5ARAHCZB5JMTIG4EG4KE3SI.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"1422\"\/>The Voyager, by Liam Reddall, was the winner of the Back on Earth Landmark prize <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Raluca Lica's Aurora above the Golden Fields was the winner in the Back on Earth Landscape category\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/7XLWAYGLONAYROS5SSTVRIJOF4.JPG\"   width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Raluca Lica&#8217;s Aurora above the Golden Fields was the winner in the Back on Earth Landscape category <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Anthony Lynch took home a second win, this time in the Night Sky in Your Hand category with his shot, Comet Catcher\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GWNHDSVXWJCI5CLXKZZG3LD7FE.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"1422\"\/>Anthony Lynch took home a second win, this time in the Night Sky in Your Hand category with his shot, Comet Catcher Runners-up 2025<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">And now, while the following shots did not win, they did provide added inspiration.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Skellig Michael Under the Harvest Full Moon, by Goran Loncar, from the Out of this World Planetary category\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3MLPHHZTDZDYHKASZEQLBWCZZY.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Skellig Michael Under the Harvest Full Moon, by Goran Loncar, from the Out of this World Planetary category <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Felix Sproll's Inver Fishing Hut Milkyway competed for the Back on Earth Landmark prize\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DRW3KFBXCNCFNCTSEQZF2BC4QY.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Felix Sproll&#8217;s Inver Fishing Hut Milkyway competed for the Back on Earth Landmark prize <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Horsehead and Flame Nebula, by Joe O'Sullivan, from the Out of this World Deep Sky category\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DPVZIJAFTBHIFNYWKEQRKMVYYQ.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Horsehead and Flame Nebula, by Joe O&#8217;Sullivan, from the Out of this World Deep Sky category <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS over the Bluestack Mountains, from the Back on Earth Landscape category, by Brendan Alexander\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/YJ6MFGZSFVD7LHVB7T4CKTQ3YA.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/>Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS over the Bluestack Mountains, from the Back on Earth Landscape category, by Brendan Alexander <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Felix Sproll's Another World was part of the Out of the World Planetary caegory\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ASS62CYVSJAV7ORTGWAWELZRPE.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"449\"\/>Felix Sproll&#8217;s Another World was part of the Out of the World Planetary caegory <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Reach for the Stars Astrophotography Competition return for another year to invite people across Ireland to pause,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22307,34919,61,60,82,247],"class_list":{"0":"post-399868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-astro","9":"tag-connemara","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}