DarkSky International has announced the winners of its fifth annual Capture the Dark photography contest, showcasing extraordinary images that demonstrate the beauty of dark skies and the urgent need to protect them from light pollution. The competition featured eight main categories, with winners from around the globe capturing everything from rare atmospheric phenomena to deep space objects, all highlighting why preserving natural darkness is essential for both astronomy and wildlife.
The contest's main category winner, "The Watchers" by JJ Rao, captures an incredibly rare phenomenon: red sprites dancing in the night sky over tidal flats in Western Australia. These spectacular atmospheric events are extremely challenging to photograph, as they exist for only 10 milliseconds - up to 40 times faster than an eye blink. Rao's image features what's known as a jellyfish sprite, described as the largest and fastest of all sprites, making this photograph particularly remarkable and requiring exceptionally dark skies to capture.
In the International Dark Sky Places category, Tom Rae's "Starlight Highway" took top honors with a stunning shot of the iconic welcome sign to the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. Rae describes this location as "one of the most significant dark sky reserves on Earth," and his photograph perfectly captures the majesty of the star-filled sky that visitors can experience in this protected area.
The Dark Sky Friendly Lighting and Design category winner came from an unexpected location - Paris, France. Photographer Gwenael Blanck's "Paris, Asleep In The Pre-Dawn Hours" demonstrates how even the famous "City of Lights" can reduce its impact on the night sky. Blanck took advantage of the city's energy conservation efforts, which shut off many iconic illuminated landmarks after midnight to reduce both energy consumption and light pollution.
Ambre de l'AIPe's powerful image "Requiem for a Dream" won the Impact of Light Pollution category, showing how artificial lighting affects iconic French landscapes in the northern Alps. The photograph dramatically illustrates light pollution from the town of Chamonix illuminating the mountain summit, serving as a stark reminder of how human-made light can overwhelm natural darkness even in remote mountainous regions.
The Creatures of the Night category showcased the connection between wildlife and dark skies through Oscar Leonardo Chavez Torres' "Scorpion and Scorpio." This psychedelic nighttime portrait features a scorpion against the backdrop of the Milky Way and defocused stars in Mexico. Torres explains that scorpions rely on darkness to hunt in the desert, thriving in dark nights, and notes that even moonlight can be enough to reduce their activity levels.
Alpha Zhang's breathtaking "Breathing Vela Supernova Remnant Mosaic" dominated the Deep Sky Observations category. This four-panel mosaic required an incredible 109 total hours of exposure time to capture the complex, layered structure of what Zhang calls "the most breathtaking nebula I've ever captured." The image reveals the OIII outer shell wrapping around ionized Ha and SII emissions, creating what Zhang describes as a structure "beyond words."
The Mobile Nighttime Photography category highlighted advances in smartphone technology, with Sadeq Hayati's "A Gateway to the Universe" captured entirely using a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. This colorful aurora nightscape from Iceland demonstrates how far smartphone camera technology has progressed in recent years, making astrophotography more accessible to amateur photographers.
The Young Astrophotographers category recognized emerging talent through Oldřich Špůrek's panoramic scene "Gems of Jizerka," captured in the Czech Republic using a modified Canon 6D DSLR and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 prime lens. This award highlights the next generation of astrophotographers who are passionate about preserving dark skies for future astronomical observations and photography.
The complete collection of winning images, including the top three photos from each category plus special category winners, is available on the DarkSky.org website. These extraordinary photographs serve not only as artistic achievements but also as powerful advocacy tools for the international dark sky movement, demonstrating what stands to be lost if light pollution continues to spread unchecked across the globe.
