Enjoy The World’s Disappearing Dark Skies With These Spectacular Winning Shots from Capture The Dark 2025

In a world where light pollution is growing at a nearly 10% annual rate, the winners of DarkSky International’s 2025 Capture the Dark contest serve as a breathtaking call to action. The fifth year of the leading night photography competition has just named its winners, drawing a record-breaking 2,284 entries from over 22 countries.

From Tom Rae’s majestic “Starlight Highway” in New Zealand to Oscar Leonardo Chavez Torres’s intimate portrait of a “Scorpion and Scorpio,” the winning images showcase both technical prowess and ethical astrophotography practices. Marvel at these winning images that brilliantly illustrate the profound wonder we stand to lose from encroaching light pollution.

Capture the Dark 2025

First Place

The Watchers by JJ Rao

Location: Derby, Australia

“Rare red sprites dancing over the tidal flats of Western Australia. A large sprite like this exists for 10 milliseconds, up to 40x faster than an eye blink. This makes photographing them challenging and requires very dark skies. The central sprite is unusual. It’s known as a ‘jellyfish’ sprite, the largest and fastest of all sprites.”

2nd Place

Whispers of the Dancing Auroras by Mónica Mesa

Location: Vestrahorn, Iceland

3rd Place

Land of Ice by Kavan Chay

Location: Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, New Zealand

International Dark Sky Places

First Place

Starlight Highway by Tom Rae

Location: Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, Canterbury, New Zealand

“The Starlight Highway sign is definitely one of the cooler signs to find on the road, and there is a good reason for it, as you can see! The sign marks the entrance to the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve—one of the most significant dark sky reserves on earth.”

2nd Place

Double Arch by Dan Zafra

Location: Death Valley International Dark Sky Park, California, United States

3rd Place

Celestial Dance Over Lupine Fields by Lucy Yunxi Hu

Location: Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, Canterbury, New Zealand

Dark Sky Friendly Lighting and Design

First Place

Paris, Asleep In The Pre-Dawn Hours by Gwenael Blanck

Location: Paris, Île-de-France, France

“Paris is known as the “City of Lights,” but after midnight, many iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Cœur are turned off to save energy and reduce light pollution. I took advantage of the darker, less light-polluted sky to capture the Pleiades above the city, from a beautiful viewpoint in Sèvres, just 8 km from the Eiffel Tower.”

2nd Place

High Frontier by Stephen Hummel

Location: Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, Canterbury, New Zealand

3rd Place:

Celestial Equator Above the Vimy Trenches by Louis Leroux-Gere

Location: WWI Memorial, Northern France

The Impact of Light Pollution

First Place

Requiem for a Dream by Ambre de l’AIPe

Location: Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Haute-Savoie, France

“January, a few years ago, in the northern Alps, France. The tent is pitched in the snow, and a sea of clouds filters the light from the town of Chamonix. An incredible atmosphere… and it’s even more incredible to realize that the town, despite the clouds obscuring the light, shines right up to the summit of Mont-Blanc (on the far right of the photo)!”

2nd Place

Traces of the Stars by Xin Wang

Location: Shanghai, China

3rd Place

Interstellar Dock by Shi Pu

Location: Beijing, China

Creatures of the Night

Scorpion and Scorpio by Oscar Leonardo Chavez Torres

Location: Hermosillo, Sonora, México

“Scorpions use the darkness to hunt in the desert, these organisms thrive in the dark nights of the desert, and even the moon can be enough light to drop their activity.“

2nd Place

The Perfect Ghost by Will Hudson

Location: Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia

3rd Place

Buck Moon Owl by Kevin O’Donnell

Location: Sonoran Desert, Arizona, United States

Deep Sky Observations

First Place

Breathing Vela Supernova Remnant Mosaic by Alpha Zhang

Location: Vela Supernova Remnant, a supernova remnant in the southern constellation Vela

“This is the most breathtaking nebula I’ve ever captured. The Vela Supernova Remnant is a target that no astrophotographer should miss in a lifetime. A four-panel mosaic covers the primary emission signals of the nebula. The OIII outer shell wraps around the ionized Ha and SII, forming a complex, layered structure that is beyond words.”

2nd Place

Furnace of Life by Rod Prazeres

Location: Rosette Nebula in the Monoceros constellation

3rd Place

Under Dark Skies: The Horsehead Revealed by Tiffany Effinger

Location: The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33), in the Orion constellation

Mobile Nighttime Photography

First Place

A Gateway to the Universe by Sadeq Hayati

Location: Raufarhöfn, Iceland

“On my last trip to Iceland, we followed the northern lights. There was a huge storm of aurora and I decided to record it with my phone for the first time! It was interesting that, with a small device in my hand, I could see the beauty happening in the sky in more detail and beauty.”

2nd Place

Milky Way Over Quiver Tree by Jilanfeng Dai

Location: Southern Africa

3rd Place

Salt Flats and Solar Winds in Death Valley by Katrina Brown

Location: Southern California

Young Astrophotographers

First Place

Gems of Jizerka by Oldřich Špůrek

Location: Jizerka, Liberecký kraj, Czech Republic

“In May, I visited Jizerka, which is located in a dark Bortle 4 zone (and sometimes even reaching Bortle 3). This valley transforms completely after sunset. A few scattered huts, fleeting fog, and a lively yet peaceful atmosphere under the stars made this night unforgettable.”

2nd Place

Aurora at 38°N by Haohan Sun

Location: Dalian, China

3rd Place

A Dolphins Head by Michael Telesco

Location: Florida Keys, United States

People’s Choice Award

First Place

Milky Way with Comet C/2023 A3 by Siddharth Patel

Location: Fingal, Ontario, Canada

“I took this photo using my mother’s Samsung S21. I had to leave the city because I couldn’t see the comet at all, so I convinced my family to drive out with me. Under the darker Fingal sky, the comet and the Milky Way were both visible to the naked eye, and seeing them together blew my mind.”

2nd Place

Clash In Winter Sky: A Legend Tupi – Guaran by Rodrigo Guerra

Location: Iguaçu National Park, Brazil

3rd Place

Ancient Beauty by Therese Iknoian

Location: Great Basin National Park, United States

Visit Utah Location Award

First Place

Kids and Comets by Carly Stocks

Location: Tooele County, Utah, United States

“Chasing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) with these two is one of my favorite memories of 2024. While it makes photography tricky, I love sharing moments under the stars with my children. They patiently waited for me to capture this comet for three consecutive nights. They asked questions, watched the comet through binoculars, and even posed for pictures.”

2nd Place

Moonstruck by Michelle Bragg

Location: Arches International Dark Sky Park, Utah, United States

3rd Place

Always Open! by Neal Lightfeld

Location: Utah, United States

Visit Tucson Location Award

First Place

Tumacacor’s Secret by Celeste Boudreaux

Location: Tumacacori, Arizona, United States

“Every summer, Tumacacori hosts a small visitor that most don’t even know exists in Arizona: the southwest synchronous firefly! And every year, they welcome visitors to photograph them.”

2nd Place

Two Lovers Watching The Moonrise by Kevin O’Donnell

Location: Phoenix, United States

3rd Place

Ad Astra by Maggie Machinsky

Location: Kitt Peak Observatory, Tohono O’odham Nation, Arizona, United States

You can see all the winning images on the Dark Sky website.

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