The winners of the 2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest are right here — and they’re beautiful. Each picture captures a distinct angle of our galaxy’s heart, displaying the complicated combination of gases and stars that kinds our cosmic residence.
The contest was established in 2018 by photographer Dan Zafra to spotlight the completely different sides of the Milky Way galaxy. While this 12 months’s winners embody a wide range of pictures from throughout the globe — from New Zealand to Yellowstone National Park — all of them had one factor in widespread: an appreciation for the universe round us.
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Location: Wairarapa Coast, New Zealand
Leaning on New Zealand’s reputation for being where much of the “Lord of the Rings” series was filmed, photographer Evan McKay reveals a stunning night sky enjoyed by the wizard Gandalf, added in later.
“When I first discovered this location, I immediately envisioned creating something special beneath the night sky,” McKay said in a statement. “Given the complexity of the scene, I knew the final image would require a significant amount of work. Over the following weeks, starting in November, I returned whenever possible to collect the necessary data for this panorama, carefully building the image piece by piece under the night sky.”
“Sodium Milky Way”
(Image credit score: Julien Looten/Capture the Atlas)
Photographer: Julien Looten
Location: Very Large Telescope; Paranal, Chile
Chile’s Atacama Desert hosts many various telescopes, together with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Mount Paranal. There, the excessive altitude and dry desert air make observing the evening sky a lot simpler than in areas with plenty of metropolis lights.
In this picture, each the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds — dwarf galaxies that orbit near the Milky Way — could be seen towards the left.
“Subtle airglow adds another layer to the scene, a natural emission produced by chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere at altitudes of 80 to 100 kilometers [50 to 62 miles],” Looten mentioned within the assertion. “In this image, it reveals a range of colors, with green tones on the left and warmer reddish hues toward the right.”
In the foreground, one of many VLT’s telescopes shoots 4 sodium laser beams into the sky, creating 4 information stars that astronomers can use to calibrate the remark techniques.
“Firewater”
(Image credit score: Baillie Farley/Capture the Atlas)
Photographer: Baillie Farley
Location: Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
“‘Ancient fireworks’ from Comet Swift-Tuttle hurtled through the atmosphere to document this ultra-wide angle composite image above the natural limestone arch of Durdle Door,” Dury said in the statement. “In the foreground, a singular glow worm was documented amongst reeds along the sea cliff edge.”
“Galaxy on the Rise”
(Image credit: Anastasia Gulova/Capture the Atlas)
Photographer: Anastasia Gulova
Location: Tenerife, Spain
It took over four hours for photographer Anastasia Gulova to find the perfect place to document the Milky Way’s beauty from inside a cave on Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands.
“Capturing the image proved just as challenging,” Gulova said. “Composing and shooting the panoramic foreground required careful positioning, while properly illuminating the upper section of the cave was particularly difficult. To manage this, I used focus stacking across different planes, including the upper edge, the horizon, and the lower foreground, all in near-total darkness, where the brief blue hour offered little assistance.”
Gulova’s persistence was worth it, as she snapped the brilliant colors of the Milky Way mixed with the night sky and beginning sunrise.
“Salto del Agrio”
(Image credit: Alejandra Heis/Capture the Atlas)
Photographer: Alejandra Heis
Location: Salto del Agrio; Caviahue, Argentina
The glowing Milky Way isn’t the only stunning part of this image; it frames a 148-foot (45 m) waterfall that feeds into a large canyon, created by the lava flows from the Copahue volcano.
“Despite the harsh conditions, I waited for the precise moment when the Milky Way aligned above the waterfall, forming an arch suspended over this ancient terrain,” Heis said in the statement. “Working with the tripod close to the ground and repeating exposures, I was finally able to capture the scene I had envisioned for so long.”
Can you identify all of the animals, objects and mythological figures hiding within the evening sky? Find out with our constellations quiz!
