A Lebanese photographer’s stunning Milky Way photograph has earned him a nomination for the 2021 Milky Way Photographer of the Year.
Benjamin Barakat, a real estate photographer and astrophotographer based in Zürich, Switzerland, made the list of 25 photos capturing the galaxy’s giant arms across the night sky.
Barakat, who was born and raised in the UK, took his “Steinsee” photo at Susten Pass, a mountain pass in the Swiss Alps, around 2,300 meters above sea level.
The astonishing photo captures the Milky Way galaxy extending above the Alps in a magnificent view that is further beautified by a small lake near its center.
“This small Alpine lake is located in the Swiss Alps on a mountain pass. Most of the year, it’s closed due to snow but, once it had cleared, I had to make my way there and capture the Milky Way,” Barakat told Capture The Atlas, the travel photography blog behind the Milky Way Photographer of the Year compilation.
“Ideally, it would have been better to shoot this location earlier this year, as the Milky Way set quickly behind the mountain at that time. The sky here was a Bortle class 3 and I was able to capture the beautiful green airglow.”
The Bortle scale is a 9-level numeric scale that measures the night sky’s brightness.
Reacting to the nomination of his photograph, Barakat wrote in a recent Instagram post: “Honored to be part of this and be listed with some of the best Astrophotography images of this year! Congrats to all that made it!”
Apart from Steinsee, Benjamin Barakat has captured a plethora of awe-inspiring photographs of the night sky throughout the years.
