This year’s Reach for the Stars astrophotography competition attracted more than 140 entries from photographers across Ireland.
The competition, organised by the school of cosmic physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (Dias), showcases extraordinary images of the night sky.
The competitors include amateur and experienced photographers.
Among this year’s winners was Ekaterina Moskovskova from Renvyle, Co Galway, who triumphed in the Night Sky in Your Hand category. Her submission, As Above, So Below, captured a couple standing on a moonlit beach beneath the glow of the aurora.
As Above, So Below. Photograph: Ekaterina Moskovskova
John Walsh, from Sallins, Co Kildare, won in the Out of this World category with an image entitled Horsehead & Flame Nebulae. Set among clouds of glowing hydrogen gas and coloured reflection nebulae, the photo captures detail in a celestial object located hundreds of light years from Earth, according to Dias.
Horsehead & Flame Nebulae. Photograph: John Walsh 
Runner-up in the Out of this World category, A Bubble in Outer Space. The image captures the Bubble Nebula, a glowing shell of gas located approximately 10,000 light-years from Earth. Photograph: David Mackie 
Runner-up in the Out of this World category, Comet R3 Panstarrs. The image of the comet was photographed from the cliffs at Portrane, Co Dublin. Photograph: Anthony Lynch
Babu Mon Melethil Gopinathan Pillai from Cherrywood, Dublin, was named the winner in the Back on Earth category with his image Celestial Coast.
The picture displays bioluminescent waves washing ashore Ireland’s rugged Copper Coast in Co Waterford, while the Milky Way arcs high above the ocean. The photographer described the scene as “fleeting harmony between ocean and cosmos; a landscape where science, chance and beauty align”.
Winner in the Back on Earth category, Celestial Coast. Photograph: Babu Mon Melethil Gopinathan Pillai 
Runner-up in the Back on Earth category, Copper Coast Milky Way. The image was taken at Kilfarrisay Beach, Co Waterford, with the Milky Way visible in the night sky between two prominent rocks. Photograph: Tom O’Donoghue 
Runner-up in the Back to Earth category, Milkyway Beach. Taken at Ballydwan Beach in Co Waterford, the photo depicts the Milky Way arching above the horizon. Photograph: Matthew Kelly
Karthik Swaminathan, based in Dublin 7, took the Public Choice Award for 12 Panel Mosaic Moon. The public’s favourite, the image is constructed from multiple images, revealing the moon in great detail.
Winner of the Public Choice Award, 12 Panel Mosaic Moon. Photograph: Karthik Swaminathan
The winning photographers will be recognised at an award ceremony in Dublin in the coming weeks. Their photos, alongside a selection of shortlisted images, will go on public display in an exhibition at a later date.
This year’s winners were selected by a judging panel including Dan Dennison, visual editor at The Irish Times; Donncha O’Driscoll, president of the Irish Astronomical Society; Peter Gallagher, senior professor and head of astronomy and astrophysics at Dias; and Niamh Shaw, scientist and engineer.
Speaking on behalf of the panel, Gallagher said the judges were struck by the storytelling behind the photographs.
“These images capture fleeting moments that most of us would never see with the naked eye, from the glow of the aurora reflected on a Galway beach to distant nebulae hidden deep within our galaxy,” he said.
The photos remind viewers that “moments of extraordinary beauty” can be found “above our heads and in the landscapes around us”, he said.