Auroras, the clouds of the Milky Way and trails of stars shine overhead in the remarkable photos chosen as winners of the 6th International Earth & Sky Photo Contest.
This competition honors photographers who venture out into the night to snap brilliant images featuring views of the sky even as light pollution around the globe threatens to hamper humanity’s view of the cosmos.
"The sky above us is an essential part of our nature, a heritage for us and other species on this planet,” contest chair Babak Tafreshi, said in a statement. “The [contest's] main goal is to present the night sky in this broader context that relates to all of us, while it is also [the astronomer's] laboratory to explore the universe. Perhaps from this perspective we can better preserve the natural night sky and reconnect it with our modern life."
The winners of the contest were chosen from approximately 1,000 entries by a panel of nine judges. People from 54 countries and territories submitted their photos to the competition, according to contest representatives.
Eric Nathan, a photographer living in South Africa and the UK, took the contest’s winning image. His photo which won the “Against the Lights” category and was chosen as the overall winner shows trails of stars above South Africa’s Table Mountain.
