‘A Galactic Dance’ wins Cork woman top prize in astrophotography competition

A CORK woman’s photo has been selected as a winning image in the 2023 Reach for the Stars astrophotography competition, run by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

‘M51 — A Galactic Dance’, a photo taken by Sara Harvey from Bishopstown, took first prize in the ‘Out of this World’ category. This category called for images depicting scenes or elements of astronomical interest such as deep space images or images of the solar system.

The winning image captures the Whirlpool Galaxy, located 31 million light years from Earth. The galaxy has a face-on appearance as seen from Earth, showing its distinct spiral structure and galactic core.

Keith Levins from Blackrock, was a runner-up in the ‘Back on Earth’ category with his submission, ‘The Almighty Arch’, which is a tracked panoramic image, shot on Bray Head on Valentia Island in Kerry. Valentia Island is part of the Kerry International Dark Sky Reserve — a gold tier dark sky reserve, which is the only one of its kind in the northern hemisphere. The Bray Tower, used for coastal watches during World War II rests below the illuminated Milky Way.

Sara and Keith’s winning images are being showcased as part of an outdoor exhibition at DIAS’s premises at 10 Burlington Road, Dublin, from Tuesday, August 1. The 13 top-rated images from the competition will be displayed alongside Sara and Keith’s. The exhibition is free to attend.

A photo entitled ‘Star Boy’, taken by Colm O’Dwyer from Ballincollig, Co Cork, will also be displayed as part of the outdoor exhibition. It is an image of Barnard 150, a meandering dark dust nebula approximately 1,200 light years away, located in the constellation Cepheus.

Commenting on Sara’s winning photo, Professor Peter Gallagher, head of astrophysics at DIAS and a member of the judging panel for ‘Reach for the Stars’, said: “The level of detail captured in Ms. Harvey’s ‘M-51 — Galactic Dance’ is really impressive. It is well framed to include many points of interest including the hot, young stars and yellow, older stars within the winding, graceful arms of the Galaxy. You can also see some tiny galaxies floating in the background and its companion galaxy NGC 5195 is clearly visible. This is a technically brilliant image.”

The winners were selected by a judging panel following a meticulous judging process of over 70 entries. In addition to Professor Peter Gallagher, the judging panel included Brenda Fitzsimons, picture editor The Irish Times; Michael McCreary, president Irish Astronomical Society; and Niamh Breathnach, director Alice Public Relations.