Winners of Capture the Dark 2025 Photo Contest Show Why Dark Skies Are Worth Protecting

Aug 18, 2025

Jeremy Gray

A triptych: Left—person stands under a stone arch with vibrant green and red auroras in the sky. Center—red sprites appear over an orange horizon. Right—small scorpion glows under ultraviolet light on rocky ground with a blurred background.

DarkSky International announced the winners of its fifth annual Capture the Dark photography contest. Winners across eight main categories showcase the best in astrophotography and demonstrate why it is vital to protect dark skies worldwide.

The 2025 DarkSky Capture the Dark photo competition features eight main categories: Capture the Dark, International Dark Sky Places, Dark Sky Friendly Lighting and Design, The Impact of Light Pollution, Creatures of the Night (flora and fauna), Deep Sky Observations, Mobile Nighttime Photography, and Young Astrophotographers.

Capture the Dark

JJ Rao’s winning image, “The Watchers,” shows rare red sprites dancing in the night sky over tidal flats in Western Australia.

A night sky glows with red sprite lightning above distant clouds, illuminating the landscape below with an orange hue. A winding path leads through the dark and barren foreground. — ‘The Watchers’ by JJ Rao | Capture the Dark 2025

“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,” explains the photographer, Rao. “The central sprite is unusual. It’s known as a ‘jellyfish’ sprite, the largest and fastest of all sprites.”

International Dark Sky Places

“Starlight Highway” by Tom Rae took top honors in the International Dark Sky Places category. This fantastic shot shows the iconic “Starlight Highway” sign that welcomes visitors to the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, which Rae describes as “one of the most significant dark sky reserves on Earth.”

A road sign labeled "Starlight Highway" stands beside an empty road at dusk, with mountains in the background and a vivid arch of the Milky Way galaxy glowing brightly in the night sky above. — ‘Starlight Highway’ by Tom Rae | Capture the Dark 2025

Dark Sky Friendly Lighting and Design

While Paris is known as the “City of Lights,” photographer Gwenael Blanck notes that after midnight, many of the city’s iconic, illuminated landmarks shut off to conserve energy and reduce light pollution. Blanck took full advantage of this to capture this wonderful night photo of Paris.

Pre-dawn view of Paris with city lights glowing, the Eiffel Tower at center, and a crescent moon with earthshine visible in the clear sky above. — ‘Paris, Asleep In The Pre-Dawn Hours’ by Gwenael Blanck | Capture the Dark 2025

The Impact of Light Pollution

Ambre de l’AIPe’s winning photo, “Requiem for a Dream,” shows how significant light pollution can affect iconic French landscapes. This image from the northern Alps in France shows the lights shining up from the town of Chamonix, illuminating the mountain summit.

Snowy mountain peaks rise above a glowing sea of clouds under a starry night sky, with a prominent dark rock silhouette in the foreground. Text in the corner reads "REQUIEM FOR A DREAM | AMBRE DE L’AIPE. — ‘Requiem for a Dream’ by Ambre de l’AIPe | Capture the Dark 2025

Creatures of the Night

Oscar Leonardo Chavez Torres’ nighttime portrait of a scorpion shows psychedelic colors, the Milky Way, and defocused stars in Mexico.

A glowing blue scorpion sits on a rock under a starry night sky with a blurred Milky Way and silhouettes of cacti in the background. — ‘Scorpion and Scorpio’ by Oscar Leonardo Chavez Torres | Capture the Dark 2025

“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,” Torres explains.

Deep Sky Observations

“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,” says photographer Alpha Zhang of his award-winning image, “Breathing Vela Supernova Remnant Mosaic.”

A vibrant image of the Vela supernova remnant shows intricate blue filaments and glowing pink clouds of gas against a star-speckled background in deep space. The photo credit reads "Alpha Zhang. — ‘Breathing Vela Supernova Remnant Mosaic’ by Alpha Zhang | Capture the Dark 2025

The astrophotographer exposed for 109 total hours to capture this brilliant deep space scene.

Mobile Nighttime Photography

Sadeq Hayati captured this colorful aurora nightscape in Iceland using his Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Smartphone camera technology has sure come a long way in recent years.

A person stands beneath a stone archway at night, silhouetted against vibrant red, green, and yellow aurora borealis lights swirling across a starry sky. — ‘A Gateway to the Universe’ by Sadeq Hayati | Capture the Dark 2025

Young Astrophotographers

Budding photographer Oldřich Špůrek captured this love panoramic scene in Jizerka, Czech Republic, using a modified Canon 6D DSLR and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 prime lens.