15 Stunning Images From the 2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year
Travel photography blog Capture the Atlas has announced the winners of its annual Milky Way Photographer of the Year competition which features 25 spectacular photos of the night sky.
The 2026 edition of the competition — which is now in its ninth year — received over 6,500 submissions, once again setting a record for the highest number in the project’s history, with selected photographers representing 15 nationalities.
This year’s collection features images captured across 12 countries and regions, including New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Chile, France, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Mexico, and Botswana.
Each year, Capture the Atlas editor Dan Zafra curates the list based on image quality, story, originality, and the inspiration each photograph provides.
“Every year, this collection reminds us that photographing the Milky Way is not only about technique or planning. It is about curiosity, patience, and the desire to experience the night sky in places where it still feels wild,” says Dan Zafra, editor of Capture the Atlas. “Many of these skies are becoming increasingly rare, and we hope these images inspire people not only to admire them, but also to value and protect them.”
Capture the Atlas says that this year’s group of winners ups the ante over previous competitions as not only are the photos beautiful, but they also include what it describes as several rare and difficult to capture scenes.
“Among them are the Milky Way above the working telescopes of the Very Large Telescope in Paranal, Chile, an image from the restricted Valle de la Luna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Argentina, and a photograph from the Sierra of Baja California in Mexico. The selection also features one of the first night images taken from a canyon inside the Hopi Indian Reservation,” Capture the Atlas says.
The winning set of images also shows multiple astronomical and natural phenomena, including the Perseids and Geminids meteor showers, a giant fireball over the Florida coast, the Milky Way rising above fireflies in Italy, and a view of the galaxy above a sea of clouds in La Palma.
The images above are joined by the full list of 25 winners which can be viewed in their entirety — including EXIF data — on Capture the Atlas.
Image credits: Header photo titled “Aoraki Mt Cook” by Owain Scullion. All images provided courtesy of Capture the Atlas.
