Travel photography website Capture the Atlas announced its seventh Milky Way Photographer of the Year winners. The top 25 Milky Way photographs are shown at the best time of year to see and shoot it on Earth.
19 nationalities have donated photographs from 15 countries, including the U.S., Chile, Argentina, Australia, Oman, and Jordan. Capture The Atlas editor-in-chief Dan Zafra chose winners from 5,000 entries. Inspired by the Milky Way, the series shares its beauty.
Over 100 billion stars fill the 50,000-light-year Milky Way. In May and June, its arc across the sky at night is most visible. Each hemisphere has a different "Milky Way season": – Northern hemisphere: February to October – Southern hemisphere: January to November
Blooming Bottle Tree Rositsa Dimitrova snapped this amazing photograph of the Milky Way behind a “bottle tree” on Socotra, an island in the Gulf of Aden off Somali, Yemen, and Oman, under a Bortle 1 dark sky (the darkest).
‘Blue Lagoon’ In Chile's Atacama Desert, renowned astrophotographer Yuri Beletsky captured this Milky Way center shot.
‘Bluff Hut’ Rachel Roberts took this photo in Mungo River Valley, West Coast, New Zealand, which can only be reached by helicopter or trekking.
‘Lightning Lake’ Aoraki, Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand was the location for this stunning image (above) by Tom Rae.
‘Mother Juniper’ Benjamin Barakat took this image (above) of the Milky Way from Jebel Shams, Oman, the country’s highest mountain.
‘Sand Path’ Hugo Valle took this magnificent photo in Egypt's White Desert, 2.8 million square kilometers from the west bank of the Nile to Libya.
‘Saoseo’ Known for it’s very clear water, Lago di Saoseo in Graubuenden, Switzerland reflects the stars as photographed by Alexander Forst (above).
‘The Tajinaste’ The tajinaste flowers stars in this image (above) by Maximilian Höfling taken in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, an island beloved of astrophotographers for the clarity of its skies.
‘Tombolo Milky Way’ The Milky Way over Lake Superior, Minnesota, (above) as captured by Marc Rassel.