See the Winners of the Earth & Sky Photo Contest

Enjoy this delightful video put together by Babak Tafreshi from The World At Night showing the winners of the third International Earth and Sky Photo Contest. With the theme of ‘Dark Skies Importance,’ these are lovely landscape astrophotos, “ in appreciation of the night sky beauty as an essential element of our nature, importance of preserving dark skies, and public awareness on the growing threat of light pollution,” Tafreshi said.

The organizers of the contest were the TWAN group along with the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, emphasizing Global Astronomy Month (April) and the contest was part of the Dark Skies Awareness project. The 2012 contest submission period was during the month of April, and submissions were to be in the “TWAN style” of landscape astrophotography — combining elements of the night sky set in the backdrop of the Earth horizon with a notable location or landmark.

Here’s the winning photograph by Norbert Span from Austria, “Stars Above Innsbruck:”

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You can all the images here.

The contest is open to anyone of any age, anywhere around the world. Interested in entering this contest next year? Check out the contest info page.