Photo credit: Tom Rae | The Amazing Sky
It’s that time again, time for the Milky Way Photographer of the Year finalists. First up, we have Tom Rae’s “Lightning Lake”, shot at Aoraki, Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand on a cold winter night, using an astromodified Nikon Z6 camera. After reaching the lake, he encountered this scene that that made him feel like he had landed on another planet.
“The Lions Den” – Lorenzo Ranieri
This amazing image was captured by Lorenzo Ranieri on the plateau of the Atacama Desert, and it wasn’t easy, due to the area being designated as a mountain lion reserve. It took an afternoon of crossing a mass of rocks adorned with tufts of grass, now burnt by the harsh environment, to find this ideal area for a night shoot.
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“Atmospheric fireworks” – Julien Looten
Photographer Julien Looten traveled to a medieval castle in France to capture the Milky Way’s “winter” arc, and was fortunate enough to stumble upon an airglow illuminating the sky, resembling multicolored clouds, during the trip. This natural phenomenon occurs due to a chemical reaction in the upper atmosphere, emitting faint light known as chemiluminescence, resulting in the jaw dropping image above.
“Desert Bloom” – Marcin Zajac
Martin Zajac’s to Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park was not only beautiful in the natural sense, but also the cosmic. As you can see the wildflowers blooming in front of the Three Sisters and since it’s far away from major urban centers, this yields one of the darkest skies in the country, perfect for stargazing.
“Mungo Dreamtime” – John Rutter
Mungo National Park in NSW, Australia, looks other worldly to say the least, and that is the reason why photographer John Rutter wanted to shoot the sky at this particular location. More specifically, Ancient Lake Mungo, which boasts the oldest human remains outside Africa, grantiong it a Bortle 1 sky, allowing you to stand where the first Australians once did and gaze at the same sky they beheld 100,000 years ago.
“A Clear Welcome” – Francesco Dall’Olmo
This was the first photo that Francesco Dall’Olmo took at Laguna de los Tres in Patagonia, Argentina, and what a photo it was. After reaching the lagoon at around 7am, he immediately captured shots of the sky. Shortly afterwards, a stunning image of the foreground, where twilight had already set in.
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