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15 Award-Winning Photos of the Milky Way

To photograph the Milky Way properly, it's not enough to arrive at a beautiful location with a good camera. You need to know where to go, when to head out, how to choose the right angle, and above all, be ready to wait patiently for the moment when the sky, the light, and the stars come together to create unforgettable images. The 15 photos in the article below were selected from the 2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year competition, and they showcase the impressive results of precise work, creativity, and a lot of love for the night sky. The photographers behind these images traveled to deserts, mountain peaks, isolated beaches, and remote sites where light pollution is almost nonexistent, to give us a glimpse of a sight you simply can't see from home. Each photo captures a meeting between an earthly landscape and the vast galaxy above it, and the result is a stunning collection that reminds us the night sky is still full of beauty, for those who know where and how to look for it...
 

#1 "My Perfect Night" - Photo by Daniel Viñé Garcia, Location: Catamarca, Argentina

Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#2 "Geminid Symphony over La Palma's Sky Guardian" - Photo by  Uroš Fink, Location: Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#3 "Aoraki / Mount Cook" - Photo by Owain Scullion, Location: Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#4 "The Milky Way in Sodium" - Photo by Julien Looten, Location: The Very Large Telescope, Paranal, Chile
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#5 "Night at the Remarkables" - Photo by Tom Rae, Location: The Remarkables Range, Queenstown, New Zealand
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#6 "Lost in the Ripples of Space and Time" - Photo by Leonel Padrón, Location: Nambung National Park, Western Australia
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#7 "Perseid Meteors over Durdle Door" - Photo by Josh Dury, Location: Jurassic Coast, Dorset, England
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#8 "Divinity" - Photo by Kavan Chay, Location: West Coast, New ZealandPhotos from the Milky Way photography competition
#9 "The Milky Way over the Tatra Mountains" - Photo by ลukasz Remkowicz, Location: Jurgów, Poland
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#10 "Salto del Agrio" - Photo by Alejandra Heis, Location: Salto del Agrio, Argentina
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#11 "Valley of the Moon, the Triassic Universe of Ischigualasto" - Photo by Gonzalo Javier Santile, Location: Valley of the Moon, Argentina
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#12 "Galaxy Panorama over the Caldera" - Photo by Max Terwindt, Location: La Palma, Canary Islands
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#13 "Garden of Stars" - Photo by Luca Fornaciari, Location: The Apennine Mountains, Bologna, Italy
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#14 "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" - Photo by Nacho Peláez, Location: La Giganta, Mexico
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
#15 "The Milky Way over Syme Hut and Mount Taranaki" - Photo by Brendan Larsen, Location: Mount Taranaki, New Zealand
Photos from the Milky Way photography competition
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