A stunning photograph of the aurora borealis over Fanad Lighthouse has been selected as a category winner in a prestigious astrophotography competition.
Taking the winning prize in the ‘Back on Earth – Landscape’ section in the 2024 Reach for the Stars contest was ‘Fanad Head – Aurora 2024’. The spectacular Northern Lights (main pic) were captured in May by Patryk Sadowski from Derry City.
His image will be featured alongside another Donegal scene (below) which was taken around the same time.
‘Northern Lights at Dunfanaghy’, has also been selected to be showcased as part of an outdoor exhibition run by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Taken by Ozgun Ozdemir from Letterkenny, it captures the phenomenon on the western horizon at New Lake, Dunfanaghy. The photographer grabbed their camera and captured the extremity of the solar storm back in May.
‘Northern Lights at Dunfanaghy’ by by Ozgun Ozdemir.
Both images went on display alongside 21 others on Friday at DIAS headquarters at 10 Burlington Road, Dublin. The exhibition is free to attend.
Donegal is a hotspot for the spectacular, thanks to its pristine ‘dark skies’.
Back in June, 2022, we reported that a rural community in south west Donegal is to seek ‘dark skies’ accreditation in order to lure star gazers to the area.
Lárchomhairle Paróiste Ghleanncholmcille has already begun the process which, if successful, could see Glencolmcille becoming a ‘dark sky park.’
Commenting on the success of the astrophotography competition, Dr. Eucharia Meehan, CEO and Registrar of DIAS said: “I would like to extend my congratulations to the winners of the competition on their spellbinding entries. Each year I am blown away by the talent and creativity of astrophotographers in Ireland. What is most important is that the images are a window into what is happening in our universe, and they can contribute to our understanding of the night sky.”
The winning images are all available to view now online on www.reachforthestars.ie.
DIAS’s ‘Reach for the Stars’ competition is being run in partnership with The Irish Times, and is sponsored by Alice Public Relations and the Astronomical Observatories of Ireland. The Irish Astronomical Society are initiative supporters.