2012 May 9: The winners of the Third International Earth and Sky Photo Contest on Dark Skies Importance are announced. International projects The World at Night and Global Astronomy Month along with the National Optical Astronomy Observatory are the organizers of the Earth and Sky Photo Contest. The contest was founded by TWAN and Dark Skies Awareness project in 2008 as a regional program. It was expanded to an international effort in 2009 during the International Year of Astronomy.
The winners and notable photos of the third International Earth and Sky
Photo Contest, (twanight.org/contest), a program by The World at Night
(TWAN) in collaboration with the Global Astronomy Month (www.astrowb.org)
and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). The music is a remix
of Thomas Nordwest (www.thomasnordwest.com) - Galaxy Of Obscured Lovestars,
Carbon Based Lifeforms (www.carbonbasedlifeforms.net) - Twentythree, Aes
Dana – Perimeters, Ultimae Records (www.ultimae.com). More information on
the contest page: www.twanight.org/contest
The 2012 contest submission period was during April, the Global Astronomy
Month. Submitted photographs were all taken since the beginning of 2011 and
were all created in the “TWAN style”—showing both the Earth and the sky—by
combining elements of the night sky set in the backdrop of the Earth horizon
with a notable location or landmark. This style of photography is called
“landscape astrophotography.” This is similar to general "Nightscape
Photography" but with more attention to the sky, astronomical perspectives,
and celestial phenomena.
The contest was open to anyone of any age, anywhere around the world. With a
significant increase to the last year contest over 600 entries were received. About 300 of these images were carefully
selected to be judged (those not in TWAN-style or far from the contest level
were removed). The images were taken and submitted from about 50 countries
and territories including Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria,
Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, England, Finland,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Malaysia, Marshal Islands, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway,
Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Island, Romania, Scotland, Serbia,
Slovakia, South Africa, South Georgia Island, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka,
Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, USA, and Venezuela. A large
percentage of the participants were from the United States, China, India,
England, Austria, Iran, Canada, and Germany.
According to the contest theme of “Dark Skies Importance,” the submitted
photos were judged in two categories: “Beauty of the Night Sky” and “Against
the Lights.” The selected images are those most effective in impressing
public on both how important and amazing the starry sky is and how it
affects our lives, and also how bad the problem of light pollution has become. Today, most city skies are virtually empty of stars.
Light pollution (excessive light that scatters to the sky instead of
illuminating the ground) not only is a major waste of energy, it also
obscures the stars, interferes with astronomical observatories and, like any
other form of pollution, disrupts ecosystems and has adverse health effects.
Similar to TWAN itself, the contest also aims to reclaim the natural beauty
of starry sky and to help preserving the dark skies which are not yet
affected by artificial lights.
Source:
- The 2012 Earth & Sky Photo Contest Winners, TWAN, may 9, 2012
