This compilation is always published in late May during the peak of the Milky Way season in the Northern hemisphere.
The final 25 images were selected over 3,000+ entries in this 2023 edition, by 25 photographers of 16 different nationalities.
The quality of the image, the story behind the shot, and the overall inspiration that the photograph can provide are the main factors for selecting the images every year.
The Milky way season ranges from February to October in the Northern Hemisphere and from January to November in the Southern. The best time to see and photograph the Milky Way is usually between May and June with the maximum hours of visibility of the Milky Way on both hemispheres.
You can see all 25 images below.
“Alien Forest” – Marcin Zając, Mono Lake, California.“A Sky Full of Stars In Patagonia” – Burak Esenbey, Torres del Paine, Chile.“Awakening of Senses” – Violeta Lazareva, Socotra, Yemen.“Cafayate star factory” – Gonzalo Santile. Cafayate Salta, Argentina.“Celestial Radiance” – Tom Rae, Lake Tekapo, New Zealand.“Celestial Shield” – Iván Ferrero, Ávila, Spain.“Gigi Hiu Shining In The Dark” – Gary Bhaztara, Sumatra Island, Indonesia.“Interstellar” – Jose Luis Cantabrana Garcia, Pinnacles Desert, WA, Australia.“Lut Glow” – Isabella Tabacchi, Lut Desert, Iran.“Milky Way over Cuenca’s Hoodoos” – Luis Cajete, Cuenca, Spain.“Milky Way Rising over Stony River & Mt Taranaki” – Brendan Larsen, Taranaki, New Zealand.“Night under the Baobab Trees” – Steffi Lieberman. Baobab Avenue, Madagascar.“Quiver Dreams” – Peter Hoszang, Keetmanshoop, Namibia.“Shapes of Nature” – Uroš Fink, Julian Alps, Slovenia.“South of Home” – Lorenzo Ranieri Tenti, Namibia, Africa.“The bottle tree portal” – Benjamin Barakat. Socotra, Yemen.“The Cactus Valley” – Pablo Ruiz García, Atacama, Chile.“The Cathedral Light Show” – Roksolyana Hilevych, Tenerife, Spain.“The Eyes of the Universe” – Mihail Minkov, Bulgaria.“The La Palma Astroexperience” – Jakob Sahner, La Palma, Spain.“The Night of Huayhuash” – Jose D. Riquelme, Huayhuash, Peru.“The Night Train” – Alexander Forst, Graubünden, Switzerland.“The Scenery I Wanted to See” – Mitsuhiro Okabe, Yamagashi Prefecture, Japan.“Wind River Nights” – Brandt Ryder, Wind River, USA.“Winter’s Airglow” – Larryn Rae, Southern Alps, New Zealand.
