10 amazing Milky Way photographs to get you excited about astro season
Travel photography blog Capture the Atlas
© Daniel Thomas Gum - “Dragon’s Lair” Mungo, NSW – Australia This is my favourite nightscape image to date. Mungo is a 12-hour drive away from my home in Sydney, but those Bortle 1 skies are the best I’ve ever witnessed and photographed at night. I had perfect conditions for three straight nights, with really good seeing throughout. The moment I came upon this scene, I knew exactly what I wanted to the name the image. It was otherworldly – think Game of Thrones – and it lined up perfectly for how I wanted to capture it. Large, jagged walls framed a winding path leading to a centered spire to the west. There was only ever going to be one way to do it justice and that was as a multi- layered Milky Way panorama. I planned this image using PhotoPills during the day, but in post-processing, I decided to use the blue-hour blend for the foreground with a tracked sky for the cleanest possible image. This compilation is always published in late May or early June coinciding with the peak of the Milky Way season, and it is designed to inspire photographers to capture and share the beauty of our night skies.
© John Rutter - “Heavens above” Hunter Valley, NSW – Australia This old church sits peacefully in a paddock in the Hunter Valley of NSW, Australia. That night, the forecast was for terrible weather, so I had written the night off and went home. To my amazement, the skies cleared and it was a race to get back to the location and start shooting. As the fog started rolling in towards the end of the capture, a perfectly timed car drove past to illuminate the scene and the fog. My passion is bringing the full Milky Way arch into people’s homes via large panoramas. I would encourage everyone to head out to a dark sky and experience it. Camera or not, it is a truly amazing sight to stand under the full arch of the Milky Way. This year’s shortlist includes images taken around the world in many countries including New Zealand, Chile, Iran, Brazil, Spain, United States, Australia, Switzerland and Greece by 25 photographers of 14 different nationalities.
© Blntpencil - “The Forgotten side of Kanagaroo Island” Baudin Beach, Kangaroo Island, Australia This image was captured at Baudin Beach on Kangaroo Island. This part of the island was luckily not affected by the devastating bushfires in 2020. It is a capture of the rising Galactic Center floating above the ocean and represents the way of life on the island “where people live at one with nature.” According to Capture the Atlas, the quality of the image, the story behind the shot, and the 'inspiration that the photograph can draw' are the main factors for selecting the images every year.
© Alyn Wallace - “Paradise Beach” Lycian Way, Turkey I spent the pandemic in a remote valley on the southwest coast of Turkey trying to avoid the chaos of restrictions and lockdowns and be surrounded by beautiful nature instead. Sadly, the valley I was residing in has very steep walls and only a clear view west, but, as the Milky Way core rises in the southeast at this time of year, I had to hike up over the mountains to get a good view. The path to get to this location is part of the Lycian Way, a popular multi-day hiking trail along the incredibly beautiful coastline of Turkey. The view overlooks a beach known as “Cennet,” which, translated from Turkish, means “Paradise,” a name I completely agree with! Sitting on the mountainside enjoying this view of the Milky Way arching across the mountains whilst listening to the sound of the waves breaking gently below and the owls twitting through the valleys was just the kind of peace and solitude I needed. Dan Zafra, editor of Capture the Atlas, curates images captured throughout the year, looking not only for images taken by some of the most renowned astrophotographers, but also for new talents and for new locations where the Milky Way hasn’t been photographed before, like Victor Lima’s shot captured at Iguazu Falls.
© Brandt Ryder - “The watchman” Zion National Park, Utah – USA Utah’s dark skies are a mecca for astrophotographers from around the world. Zion National Park is one of the premier locations and, for as long as I can remember, nightscapes from this park have captured my imagination. When I finally traveled to Zion, I knew I wanted to capture something unique, something different from the traditional shot, but one that still featured the iconic and austere “Watchman.” I had seen some photos from a closer angle and after some exploring, I came across this twisted skeleton of an old juniper framing “The Watchman.” As a photographer, I am always looking for interesting foreground subjects. Foregrounds that have features that can in some way recapitulate or accentuate the background are rare but always the most compelling. When I noticed how the angles of the tree matched the peak near perfectly, I knew I had found something special. Even though the Milky Way can be photographed throughout the year, the Galactic Center, which is the Milky Way core and the area with more interest, is only visible during the commonly known as “Milky Way season”.
© Larryn Rae - “Mt. Taranaki Milky Way” Fanthams Peak, Mt. Taranaki – New Zealand This is one of the most challenging shots I have ever captured, as it required climbing for 4 hours in 70km/h winds to reach the ice summit of Fanthams Peak – a volcano on the side of Mt Taranaki. At an elevation of 2000 m and -15ºC outside with gusty wind blasts, I had to choose settings that would get me the capture rather than what I may have considered more ideal settings. I am so stoked to have captured what I did under perfect clear skies, as it was both a true test of both mountaineering and endurance carrying all my gear to this location, but one I will look back on with pride ands success. This season ranges from January to November in the Southern Hemisphere and from February to October in the Northern Hemisphere. The best time to see the Milky Way is during June which is in the middle of the viewing season.
© Spencer Welling - “Chamber of light” Utah, USA The deserts of the Southwest are abound with places to capture the night sky. With all that the Southwest has to offer, it’s easy to overlook some of the more obscure hidden gems hovering under the radar. This is one such location, which is situated below a remote set of cliffs in Grand Staircase-Escalante. Due to its remoteness, this natural stone chamber provides some of the clearest, most pristine views of the Milky Way framed by the copper-colored opening of the cavern. You can see more of the best Milky Way images on the Capture the Atlas website.
© Bryony Richards - “Temple of the sun” Capitol Reef National Park, Utah – USA The Milky Way core rises before dawn under the southern skies of Capitol Reef National Park’s “Temple of the Sun.” This area of the Colorado Plateau Desert, known for its domes, hoodoos, fins, reefs, natural bridges, and slot canyons, includes the Temples of the Sun and Moon. These Jurassic-aged sandstone monoliths, which formed as sandy mud on a tidal flat, tower above the otherwise flat desert floor. It seems like more than a coincidence that the Temples line-up perfectly with the Milky Way, their vibrant orange colors seemingly reflecting the color of the stars above. © Pablo Ruiz - “Riaño” Riaño, Spain I captured this image last winter in the Riaño Mountain Reservoir in Spain. The biggest difficulty that night was mainly the cold; it was over -10 degrees. The moisture in the reservoir was freezing the lens and it was difficult to shoot for a long period of time. I planned the photograph using PhotoPills and, when the weather forecast was promising, I decided to try for it. The composition of the winter Milky Way over the mountains and the reservoir created magical scenery. © Brandt Ryder - “The watchman” Zion National Park, Utah – USA Utah’s dark skies are a mecca for astrophotographers from around the world. Zion National Park is one of the premier locations and, for as long as I can remember, nightscapes from this park have captured my imagination. When I finally traveled to Zion, I knew I wanted to capture something unique, something different from the traditional shot, but one that still featured the iconic and austere “Watchman.” I had seen some photos from a closer angle and after some exploring, I came across this twisted skeleton of an old juniper framing “The Watchman.” As a photographer, I am always looking for interesting foreground subjects. Foregrounds that have features that can in some way recapitulate or accentuate the background are rare but always the most compelling. When I noticed how the angles of the tree matched the peak near perfectly, I knew I had found something special. © José Luis Cantabrana - “Nyctophilia” Great Ocean Road, Victoria – Australia This incredible location has always amazed me, even before I had any interest in photography. This set of rocks, carved by the incessant churning of the sea and the powerful wind that whips the south coast of Victoria is, without a doubt, the most emblematic landscape of Australia. After an amazing sunset followed by an ethereal moonset, I was standing there, contemplating the spot I had always dreamt of under a magical starry sky. However, not everything was pink that night… I had brought a new piece of equipment with me, a star tracker, and as soon I started to set it up, I knew it was going to be a tricky night. After numerous failed attempts to align it towards the south celestial pole, I was ready to give up, but I decided to take a shot and “see what happens” while the galactic core was rising up. Surprisingly, it worked out nicely, and a door opened for me, to a new magical world full of stars.
