Milky Way Photographer of the Year 2024 pictures revealed

21 May 2024

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Image source, Tom Rae/Capture The Atlas
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These incredible shots of the Milky Way taken by photographers from all around the world are for a special competition by a travel photography site. This first image, for the Capture the Atlas event, was taken on New Zealand's highest mountain - Aoraki/Mount Cook - with the photographer hiking up a glacial valley to get to just the right scenic spot.
Image source, Kavan Chay/Capture The Atlas
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The Milky Way, the galaxy in which we live, gets its name from its milky-looking texture - which inspired a Greek myth that a goddess put milk into the sky. This photo was also taken on New Zealand's highest mountain, and meant a 5am wake-up for the photographer to get the lighting just right.
Image source, Lorenzo Ranieri/Capture The Atlas
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Most of the photos are taken at night in places where there's not much light pollution, for example places far away from cities or where people live. This makes the starry night sky much easier to see. This photo was taken in Atacama Desert, Chile, which is actually marked as a mountain lion reserve... so there's probably much safer places to see the Milky Way elsewhere!
Image source, Julien Looten/Capture The Atlas
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Over to France now, where this picture was taken at a medieval castle in Dordogne. As well as the Milky Way, we can see strands of light in different colours. According to the photographer, this is a natural phenomenon that happens when chemicals react in the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Image source, Rachel Roberts/Capture The Atlas
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Back to New Zealand, where this photographer had to get a helicopter to access the remote Southern Alps of the South Island. Putting their trust in the pilot's choice of location paid off with this scenic picture of the Milky Way stretching over Bluff Hut.
Image source, Andrea Curzi/Capture The Atlas
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This panoramic photo shows light falling onto the Giau Pass in the Dolomites mountain range in Italy. According to the photographer, the temperature was around -8C, with strong winds making it feel even colder than that!
Image source, Baillie Farley/Capture The Atlas
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Here, the Milky Way arcs to perfectly frame the rocky cliffs in Australia's Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve. The photographer says that this has some of the darkest southern night skies in the world.
Image source, Francesco Dall’Olmo/Capture The Atlas
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Finally, the high peaks of Argentinian Patagonia proved to be inspiring for this lucky photographer. The picture was taken at 7am (a much better wake up alarm than for the 5am shot!) and shows the mountain of Fitz Roy, which lies on the border between Argentina and Chile.

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