The best night sky photos

The cloud is covered with yellow light from electric lights from the city, the sky turns blue because the aurora is the night sky photos won in an international photo contest in 2011.

The following photos won high prizes in the International Photo Contest on Earth and Sky, organized by The World at Night project.

The aurora image above the Jökulsárlón ice lake in Iceland won the first prize in the "Night sky beauty" content. Photo: Stephane Vetter.

Light from Isfahan city in Iran overshadowed a rainbow head created by the Milky Way in April 2010. Photo: Mehdi Momenzadeh.

Clouds change color by light from Portland city, Oregon state, USA in December 2010.
The photographer stands in a place about 80 km from Portland. Photo: Ben Canales.

A curved tree below the center of the Milky Way in the photo was taken in Australia in July 2010. Photo: Alex Cherney.

Light from the stars seems to overshadow the electric light from an Austrian city near the Alps on the evening of February 17, 2010. Photo: Thomas Kurat.

The star sky in the photo was taken on the shores of Lake Mono, California, USA
in December 2010. Photo: Grant Kaye.

The Milky Way above a gate of the Great Wall in China in the photo taken in April 2010. Photo: Xiaohua.

The Milky Way appears above the volcano Piton de la Fournaise, the island of Réunion, the overseas territory of France in the Indian Ocean. Photo : Luc Perrot.

Countless streaks of light appear in photos with long exposure time in the city of Lisbon, Portugal in February 2010. Photo: Miguel Claro.