There are hundreds of photography contests, each holding a different message and aim. You are reading these words while mesmerizing at the above photo perhaps. No, this picture is not fixed on photo shop; It is a real picture. A winning one in an environmental awareness contest.
The photo shows a total Solar Eclipse from Svalbard. The astronomy communicator and photographer Thanakrit Santikunaporn from Thailand took the photo in Norway.
The light you see shining out of the photo is the entire sequence of the March 20, 2015, eclipse from the Arctic on 78-degree north latitude.
The photo “Total Solar Eclipse from Svalbard” won in the “Beauty of the Night Sky” category, and the photographer stood out for technical excellence.
Santikunaporn was among the 10 winners of the seventh Earth & Sky Photo Contest this year, which is organized by “The National Astronomical Research Institute” of Thailand (NARIT), and the Ministry of Science and Technology, and “The World’s at Night” (TWAN.)
The contest, which received more than 1,000 entries from 57 countries, aims to make the public awareness of an environmental issue of light pollution: the wasteful, wrongly directed portion of light which scatters in the night sky.
The contest was open to both professional and amateur photographers, and the 10 winning photos were taken in Canada, China, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Norway, Russia and the United States.
