These award-winning photos, chosen from submissions by photographers in 45 countries, reveal the natural beauty of the night sky
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This year's winner, shown above, captures the Milky Way and aurora borealis over Iceland's Godafoss Waterfall. See more of Vetter's work here.
Photo by Stephane Vetter (France)
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The Austrian city of Salzburg glows at nighttime. This image took first place in the contest's Against the Lights category.
Photo by Andreas Max Böckle (Austria)
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Stars twinkle over Canyon Lake near Globe, Arizona in early morning. The photo was awarded second place in the Against the Lights category. See more photos from Grether here.
Photo by Zach Grether (United States)
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A fireball rockets through the atmosphere against the Northern Lights over Manitoba, Canada. The photo took third place in the Beauty in the Night Sky category. See more of the photographer's work here.
Photo by Shannon Bileski (Canada)
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The stars of the Milky Way shine over the Midsummer Fire Festival in the Alps during the summer solstice in Tyrol, Austria. This image was awarded third place in the Against the Light category.
Photo by Norbert Span (Austria)
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The aurora borealis stretches over northern Norway, near the city of Tromso. The photo was awarded fourth place in the Beauty of the Night Sky category. See more of the photographer's work here.
Photo by Fredrik Broms (Norway)
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The glow of city lights from Globe, Arizona illuminates the clouds over the Roosevelt Lake Bridge. This photo took fourth place in the Against the Lights category. See more of the photographer's work here.
Zach Grether (United States)
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A solar eclipse that occurred on November 14, 2012 hangs in the sky in Queensland, Australia. The photo was awarded fifth place in the Beauty of the Night Sky category. A judge noted, "While we didn't include solar eclipse images in the previous years, this image that has prominently captured the moon shadow cone changed our position. Totality creates a short bizarre nightscape and the phenomenon strongly connects astronomy and nature."
See more of the photographer's work here.
Photo by Geoff Sims (Australia)
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Stars leave their mark in the night sky over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This photo was awarded fifth place in the Against the Lights category.
See more of the photographer's work here.
Photo by Rick Whitacre (United States)
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The Milky Way extends upward over Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. This image took second place in the Beauty of the Night Sky category. See more of Perrot's work here.
Photo by Luc Perrot (Réunion Island, France)
To choose the winners of the International Earth and Sky Photo Contest, judges combed through nearly 700 shots from photographers of all ages from around the world. Submissions must represent what’s known as landscape astrophotography, a style that pits the earth against the night sky. These photos juxtapose the planet’s landscape and scenery with astronomy and celestial phenomena. The contest is a collaboration between The World at Night and Astronomers Without Borders.
This year's winner, shown above, captures the Milky Way and aurora borealis over Iceland's Godafoss Waterfall. See more of Vetter's work here.
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