The “Milky Way”, born in line with Greek mythology from the milk spilled by means of the goddess Hera whilst nursing Hercules, is sometimes called the “Silver River” or because the “Backbone of the Night”, as described by means of the cultures of the Kalahari Barren region, in southern Africa. That massive arc of sunshine that cuts in the course of the sky concentrates in its central phase, the galactic bulge, tens of billions of stars and one of the most attractive landscapes that may be noticed from Earth.
In 2026, the astrophotographers decided on by means of Seize The Atlas for the 9th version of the 2026 Milky Manner Photographer of the 12 months Awards captured the majesty of our galaxy from one of the maximum far-off puts on the earth. In addition they controlled to seize phenomena which can be tough to comprehend even for knowledgeable observers.
Within the footage, the reddish northern lighting fixtures seem over Brittany, France, laser beams that create “artificial stars” over the Atacama wasteland, meteor showers on L. a. Palma or massive nebulae visual most effective from the southern hemisphere. All this below a super sky for astronomical observations.
Sadly, nearly a 3rd of the arena’s inhabitants does no longer have get right of entry to to a transparent view of the Milky Manner because of the rising downside of sunshine air pollution in our towns and nation-state.
In step with Dan Zafra, co-founder and editor of Seize the Atlas: “These photos also remind us of how rare truly dark skies are becoming.”
Cerro Paranal within the Atacama Barren region (Chile)
Unique symbol identify: Sodium Milky Manner. Credit score: Julien Looten / Seize the Atlas.
From the Atacama Barren region in Chile, at about 2,600 meters above sea degree, the dense central area of our galaxy sweeps around the sky appearing its function arc.
To the left of the picture, in bluish tones, two small galaxies of the Native Staff to which the Milky Manner belongs will also be prominent. We are considering of the Magellanic Clouds, two galaxies separated by means of about 75,000 light-years and visual in all their glory from the Southern Hemisphere.
The greenish and reddish tones originate from a phenomenon known as evening luminescence or airglow. This very vulnerable emission of sunshine at evening is a outcome of the ionization of oxygen and nitrogen molecules within the higher layers of the ambience below intense daylight hours sun radiation. Because the sky darkens, those molecules recombine, emitting photons of purple, inexperienced, or yellow mild.
Within the heart of the picture seems ESO’s Paranal Observatory (Eu Southern Observatory), composed of four primary telescopes with a number one reflect diameter of 8.2 meters each and every. Unit Telescope Quantity 4 (UT4) is known as Iepun and emits 4 beams of orange laser mild completely visual on this symbol.
The serve as of those orange lasers is to stimulate sodium atoms within the higher setting about 90 km top within the mesosphere, making them glow and developing “artificial stars”. This permits researchers to proper for blurring and “flickering” of celestial items because of atmospheric turbulence in actual time.
Pinnacles Barren region (Western Australia)
Unique symbol identify: Misplaced within the Waves of House and Time. Credit score: Leonel Padron / Seize Atlas.
A couple of kilometers from the city of Cervantes, in Western Australia, is the Pinnacles Barren region.
This inhospitable position is house to hundreds of limestone pillars emerging from the yellow sand. The astronomical peculiarity lies in the truth that those formations are nearly completely directed against the southern celestial pole, against this to the northern celestial pole close to the pole big name. This selection is very coveted by means of astrophotographers, since all celestial items transfer within the southern sky describing a circumference round those peaks.
On this stunning symbol, the place the glow of the Milky Manner sublimely dominates the sky, middle of the night luminescence in greenish tones will also be observed above the horizon. To the correct, in reddish tones, seems the Gum Nebula, visual in its entirety from the southern hemisphere, with an angular dimension of just about 40º (an identical to about 80 complete moons).
Pen Heer (French Brittany)
Unique symbol identify: The place Earth Meets the Cosmos. Credit score: Andrea Curzi / Seize the Atlas.
The outstanding arc of the Milky Manner crosses the evening sky from the Pen Heer Peninsula in Brittany, France. On this stunning wide-field landscape, you’ll see the reddish-toned northern lighting fixtures (proper of the picture), along the well-known greenish-toned nocturnal luminescence.
The whitish level within the heart of the picture corresponds to the zodiacal mild, brought about by means of the mirrored image of daylight on grains of interplanetary mud concentrated close to the aircraft of the Sun Machine. In each hemispheres it seems that within the spring, simply after the true sundown. That is why it is known as “false twilight”. On the other hand, in autumn it’s visual simply ahead of break of day and is referred to as “false dawn”.
To the left of the zodiacal beam of sunshine, slightly under the arc of the Milky Manner, a reddish semicircular construction will also be observed surrounding Orion’s belt and the M42 nebula. That is Barnard’s Loop, an enormous nebula of gasoline emissions and ionized mud, positioned about 1,500 mild years away. Beside it, the rounded form of the Lambda Orionis nebula completes this gorgeous mosaic within the Orion constellation.
Rokue de los Muchachos (L. a. Palma, Spain)
Unique symbol identify: Geminid Symphony over L. a. Palma’s Dad or mum of the Sky. Credit: Uroš Fink / Seize Atlas.
From Rokua de los Muchachos, at the Canary Island of L. a. Palma, the arc of the Milky Manner towers over the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). With a ten.4 meter diameter number one reflect made up of 36 hexagonal segments, this astronomical observatory is regarded as the biggest lively optical and infrared reflecting telescope on the earth.
The overall symbol is the results of a painstaking post-production procedure the place the blended information used to be captured by means of six cameras over 5 nights at L. a. Palma. The overall answer reaches roughly 400 megapixels.
This landscape displays intimately the Geminids, a meteor bathe visual in December whose radiant – the realm of the sky the place those taking pictures stars appear to collect – is strictly the constellation Gemini. With an job price of greater than 120 meteors according to hour, the Geminids outnumber the Perseids or “Tears of St. Lawrence” so in style within the northern summer season.
