People in this corner of Ireland are looking up, pointing their cameras skyward
From the dark skies above County Galway, six photographers have turned their lenses skyward and found themselves among Ireland's finest interpreters of the night. The 2026 Reach for the Stars competition, run by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, has shortlisted nine of their images — a remarkable concentration of vision from a single region. That half of those images were captured on smartphones speaks to something quietly important: the cosmos has never required permission to be witnessed, only the willingness to look up.
- Nine shortlisted images, all from County Galway — a single county has claimed the entire national shortlist, signalling an unusually vibrant community of night-sky observers in the west of Ireland.
- The clock is running: public voting for the People's Choice Award closes July 13, turning a technical competition into a live act of community participation.
- A €500 voucher and a published image in the Irish Times await the winner — modest prizes that carry outsized meaning in a field where recognition is hard-won and visibility rare.
- Six of the nine shortlisted entries were shot on smartphones, challenging the assumption that astrophotography belongs only to those with professional equipment and deep pockets.
- Photographers from Athenry to Renvyle, Loughrea to Kilcolgan have each submitted work — the county's geography itself becoming a kind of distributed observatory pointed at the same sky.
Six photographers from across County Galway have been shortlisted for the 2026 Reach for the Stars astrophotography competition, organized by the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Between them, they account for all nine shortlisted images — a striking dominance from a single region in what is otherwise a national contest.
The photographers span the breadth of the county: David Mackie from Athenry, Ekaterina Moskovskova and Vladimir Kanaev from Renvyle, Enda O'Loughlin from Loughrea, Felix Sproll from Galway city, and Joe Silke from Kilcolgan. Their images range from aurora borealis over coastal inlets to ancient dolmens beneath the northern lights, from Milky Way reflections to distant galaxies.
Perhaps the most telling detail is the smartphone category — The Night Sky in Your Hand — where six of Galway's nine entries are competing. The category exists precisely to dismantle the idea that astrophotography demands expensive gear, and Galway's photographers have embraced it fully.
Public voting for the People's Choice Award remains open until July 13, with the winning photographer receiving a €500 voucher and publication in the Irish Times. Whether the concentration of Galway talent reflects a thriving local network or simply effective word of mouth, it points to something worth pausing over: in this corner of Ireland, people are looking up — and finding the night sky worth the effort of capturing.
Six photographers from Galway have made the cut in a national astrophotography competition that invites the public to choose their favorite image of the night sky. The 2026 Reach for the Stars contest, organized by the School of Cosmic Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, has shortlisted nine photographs across three categories, with all of them coming from County Galway—a striking concentration of talent from a single region.
The competition runs through July 13, when voting closes. Members of the public can view the shortlisted work online and cast their vote for the Public Choice Award, making this as much a community exercise as a test of technical skill. The winner will receive a €500 voucher and see their image published in the Irish Times, a meaningful recognition in a field where visibility matters.
The six photographers represent different corners of the county. David Mackie from Athenry submitted a piece titled A Bubble in Outer Space. Ekaterina Moskovskova, based in Renvyle, entered two images: Home Beneath the Milky Way and As Above, So Below. Enda O'Loughlin from Loughrea contributed Reflections of the Night. Felix Sproll, working from Galway city itself, entered Mourne Startrails. Joe Silke from Kilcolgan submitted two photographs—Pollnabrone Dolmen Under the Northern Light and Aurora Over Dooras Inlet. Vladimir Kanaev, also from Renvyle, entered The Neighbour Galaxy and A Walk Among the Stars.
One category proved particularly popular with Galway's photographers: The Night Sky in Your Hand, which challenges entrants to capture astronomical scenes using only a smartphone. Six of the nine shortlisted images in this category come from County Galway. The category exists to demonstrate that astrophotography is not the exclusive domain of those with expensive equipment—that the night sky is accessible to anyone with a camera in their pocket and the patience to frame it properly. In a field often dominated by specialized gear and technical expertise, this democratization matters.
The concentration of Galway photographers in the competition suggests either a particularly active community of night sky enthusiasts in the region, or simply that word of the contest spread effectively through local networks. Either way, it speaks to something worth noting: people in this corner of Ireland are looking up, pointing their cameras skyward, and finding something worth capturing. The voting period ahead will reveal which of these nine images resonates most with the broader public.
Notable Quotes
The Night Sky in Your Hand category aims to highlight the accessibility of astrophotography— Competition organizers
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that six photographers from one county made the shortlist? Isn't that just how competitions work—people enter, some win?
It's not about fairness or surprise. It's that this concentration suggests Galway has either a real community of people doing this work, or the contest reached them in a way it didn't reach other places. That's worth noticing.
And the smartphone category—why emphasize that so much?
Because astrophotography has a reputation for being expensive, technical, gatekept. Six of nine entries in that category from Galway says something about how people there see the night sky as something they can actually engage with, not just admire from a distance.
So this is really about access?
Partly. But it's also just about attention. These photographers are looking at the sky in a deliberate way. They're framing it. They're choosing to share what they see. That's different from just living under the stars.
What happens after July 13?
Someone's image gets published in the Irish Times and they get five hundred euros. But more than that, the conversation about what the night sky looks like—what it means to capture it—gets a little wider.