From Waterford to Kildare, Ireland’s astrophotographers shoot for the stars in this year’s DIAS space photography competition.
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) has announced the winners of this year’s Reach for the Stars competition.
Now in its fifth year, the competition received more than 170 entries taken between 26 April 2024 and 2 June 2025, with judges shortlisting and selecting winners across six categories.
“The Reach for the Stars competition continues to reveal the incredible talent and dedication of Ireland’s astrophotographers,” said Dr Eucharia Meehan, CEO and registrar of DIAS.
“These images don’t just showcase technical skill, they allow us to see the universe from new perspectives and inspire a deeper curiosity about our night sky.”
For his image, ‘Winter Nebula in Bloom’, captured in Glasnevin, Dublin, Martin McCormack won the Out of the World – Deep Sky category for the second year in a row. His image captures the Rosette Nebula, which is 5,200 light-years away from Earth. The judges commended McCormack’s technical skill.
Raluca Lica won the Back on Earth – Landscape category for her image ‘Aurora above the Golden Fields’, taken near Narraghmore, Kildare. This image almost didn’t happen. Lica had decided to move to a different area to capture images of the forecast geomagnetic storm and was packing up her gear when the sky suddenly lit up.
Aurora above the Golden Fields. Image: Raluca Lica
“There were many moments that night when I couldn’t figure where to point my camera,” she said. “My widest lens was unable to capture all I was seeing.” The judges commended this image for providing a sense of being.
The People’s Choice award went to ‘Symmetry’ by Anthony Lynch. The image was taken in Lough Boora Park, Offaly. Lynch had planned to take a different photo but when he saw the train tracks, he wanted to capture them, resulting in this image of the sweeping panorama of the Milky Way at the top with the train tracks at the bottom.
Symmetry. Image: Anthony Lynch
Liam Reddall won the Back on Earth – Landmark category for his image, ‘The Voyager’, taken in Laytown, Meath. Reddall had seen the Voyager Statue by Linda Brunker and felt it would make a “captivating foreground subject”. The bronze statue points out to sea allowing Reddall to capture this expansive view of the night sky.
“Lit by the surrounding streetlamps it takes on a golden glow under long exposure photography,” he said.
The Voyager. Image: Liam Reddall
The Out of this World – Planetary category was won by Brian O’Halloran for his image ‘Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS In All Its Glory’, taken in Dunabrattin, Waterford. The comet was visible in the sky in mid-October last year.
“It was a privilege to capture,” O’Halloran said. “Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS is now on an outbound ejection trajectory from our solar system, never to be seen again.”
Competition winners will be honoured at a private ceremony in DIAS on Wednesday, 20 August, with passes to Ireland’s astronomical observatories and vouchers for photographic equipment among the prizes to be given out.
Winning and shortlisted photographs will be exhibited to the public from Thursday, 21 August at DIAS.
This year’s competition reached new heights, said Prof Peter Gallagher, head of astrophysics at DIAS, who led the judging panel. “It is exciting to see the competition grow.”
The other judges were Michael McCreary, president of the Irish Astronomical Society; Dr Lisa McNamee, co-founder of Space Medicine Ireland; and Alan Betson, award-winning Irish Times photographer.
The competition is run in partnership with The Irish Times and is sponsored by MKC Communications and the Astronomical Observatories of Ireland. The Irish Astronomical Society are initiative supporters.
To see all the winning and highly commended entries, visit the Reach for the Stars website.
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