Baillie Farley took this shot in the Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve in Australia’s Northern Territory, on a trip during which she experienced ‘some of the darkest southern night skies in the world’. She added: ‘This area exudes a unique charm, with its vibrant hues and stunning geological formations’
Photographer Alexander Forst took this shot by a lake in Graubuenden, an Alpine region of Switzerland. He said: ‘Situated at 2,000m [6,561ft] altitude, it gets very cold after sunset. We had forgotten our jackets in the car, 1.5 hours away. I had a clear view of the Milky Way for just 30 minutes before it vanished behind clouds again’
A mesmerising shot taken by Hugo Valle in Egypt’s White Desert – a national park covering more than 2.8million square kilometres, from the Nile into Libya. Hugo noted: ‘The night skies are among the best I have ever seen’
On December 15, Andrea Curzi snapped this overview of a starry sky above untouched snowfall on Italy’s Passo Giau, a 2,236m- (7,335ft) high pass in the Dolomites. The photographer said it was a scene he’d ‘long dreamt of capturing’
Francesco Dall¿Olmo trekked to natural viewpoint Laguna de los Tres, in Argentinian Patagonia, and snapped this impressive twilight shot, capturing mountain Fitz Roy framed by the Milky Way arch
Above is a heavenly shot of renowned hot spring ‘Morning Glory’ in the Yellowstone National Park. The image was taken by Jerry Zhang, who explained that the pool was originally blue, but has turned green due to ‘human interference and pollution’. He added: ‘In this photo, the pool mirrors [constellation] Scorpius, notably [star] Antares, against a clear dark sky and brilliant Milky Way’
Behold Rainbow Valley in Chile’s Atacama Desert. An area 3,200m (10,498ft) up in the Cordillera Domeyko mountain range that the photographer behind this incredible shot, Cari Letelier, likens to Mordor from the Lord of the Rings movies. She explained that the shot was taken under a Bortle 1 sky, a classification that means it’s among the least light-polluted places on Earth
John Rutter took this photo of the Milky Way deep in the ‘Mars-like’ Mungo National Park in New South Wales, Australia. He explains that the landscape ‘houses the oldest human remains outside Africa’, adding: ‘Its remote location grants 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’
Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn took this wow-factor snap 15,000ft up in the Atacama Desert in Chile, following ‘an eerie 40-minute trek in the dark along a salt trail’. A torch was used to make the lagoons reflect a bright blue
Yuri Beletsky’s shot of the ‘Galactic Centre’ shining brightly over the Atacama Desert
Marcin Zajac, the photographer behind this image, explains that it was taken in Goblin Valley State Park in Utah in a remote corner of the Colorado Plateau, which ‘yields one of the darkest skies in [America]’. In the foreground are wildflowers, blooming in front of an eye-catching rock formation known as the Three Sisters
An ‘alien-looking’ bottle tree captured beneath the stars by Rosita Dimitrova on the island of Socotra in Yemen
The striking image above was taken by Mihail Minkov in Jordan’s Wadi Rum Desert, with the photographer explaining that the concept was ‘to highlight the stark contrast between the vastness of the cosmos and the minuscule nature of humanity’. He added: ‘The composition intentionally draws the viewer¿s focus to a small figure, underscoring our insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe, while the majestic Milky Way core dominates the background’
This image shows the Milky Way ’emerging’ from New Zealand¿s highest mountain, Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook. Photographer Tom Rae said: ‘The scene made me feel like I had landed on another planet. The image features icebergs in the cyan-blue glacial lake, red airglow painting the sky, and the glow of billions of stars in the Milky Way’
A series of mushroom-shaped stone structures in Utah called the ‘Toadstool Hoodoos’ form the foreground for this dazzling shot by Stephnanie Thi, which was taken during the ‘blue hour’ – the time after the sun has set but before it’s completely dark
Julien Looten here has captured the Milky Way’s entire ‘winter arc’ at the foot of a medieval castle in the Dordogne, France. Also present in the image is a natural phenomenon called ‘air glow’. Julien explained: ‘This occurs due to a chemical reaction in the upper atmosphere, emitting faint light known as chemiluminescence.’ The stars can be identified from left to right as Sirius and the constellation of Orion, Mars, the Pleiades, the California Nebula, Cassiopeia, the double cluster of Perseus, and the Andromeda galaxy. The image is formed from 40 exposures that took an hour to record
Marc Rassel drove four-and-a-half hours to reach this spot in Lake Superior, Minnesota, in the U.S. He said: ‘I managed to complete the sky frames and most of the foregrounds. The final edit required blending the foreground seamlessly as twilight approached’
Photographer Matej Mlakar set up his camera for this picture on Prednje robi¿je (1,941m/6,368ft), a mountain in Slovenia’s Julian Alps
There are few places on the planet as dark as the spot where this photo was taken, according to the photographer, Rachel Roberts. The location is Bluff Hut, nestled in the Southern Alps on New Zealand¿s South Island. It’s only accessed by a difficult hike or helicopter flight. Rachel got there via the latter, explaining that the spot was chosen by the pilot after bad weather ruined Rachel’s first-choice location. She said: ‘I trusted the chopper pilot to choose the best spot for clear skies that evening. Thankfully, he didn¿t disappoint, and I was able to capture the Milky Way arching majestically over the hut from one of the darkest places on the planet’
While camping out in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, New Zealand, photographer Kavan Chay took this shot as the sun rose and a kea bird ‘harassed’ campers. He said: ‘The ascent was a struggle with 20-25kg of gear, but I managed a respectable time’
The Milky Way hangs over desert vegetation in this incredible shot by Maximilian Höfling, captured in Teide National Park in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. He said: ‘In the Teide National Park, situated at an altitude of around 2,000 metres (6,561ft), clear skies are almost guaranteed, with lower clouds shielding city lights, minimizing light pollution’
Photographer Lorenzo Ranieri explained that he captured this image ‘during an adventurous night on the plateau of the Atacama Desert [in Chile], a potentially dangerous area due to its designation as a mountain lion reserve’, adding: ‘After a whole afternoon of searching for compositions, I stumbled upon this remarkable mass of rocks adorned with tufts of grass, now burnt by the harsh environment. The area was littered with bones of small animals and footprints of a significant size, indicating the presence of wildlife not typically associated with peaceful sheep. Spending the night there was admittedly a bit nerve-wracking, but the opportunity to photograph such beauty made it worthwhile’
Explaining how this enchanting shot was captured, photographer Brandt Ryder explains: ‘In May of 2023, I spent a couple of days around the iconic town of Lone Pine, California, where the lupines in the foothills were just coming into peak bloom and the skies are notoriously dark. I knew I wanted to create an image that transported the viewer into a sea of purple flowers framed by the snow-covered Sierra and the Milky Way rising above. Although this spot was special, it was the incredible panoply of colour in the night sky that I captured on this night that really elevates this image. Every time I look back at this image, I can still smell those flowers’
Benjamin Barakat took this snap of the skies above from beneath a ‘twisted’ juniper tree on Jebel Shams, which at 3,018m (9,902ft), is the highest mountain in Oman
Tervel Kutsev’s enticing entry was taken in Bulgaria’s Pirin mountain range, with Tervel explaining that the peak in the centre of the panorama is Vihren (2,914m/9,560ft). The Pirin Mountains are named after one of the most powerful gods in Slavic mythology ¿ Perun ¿ the god of thunder, and Vihren is considered his throne, Tervel reveals