Skies & Scopes Astrophotography

Competition

Smartphone Astrophotographer of the Year

Our competition celebrating the best astrophotography taken on a phone. The overall winner of 2026 is Mihail Minkov of Bulgaria with his photo Hand of God.

Overall Winner 2026

The overall winner of Smartphone Astrophotographer of the Year 2026 is Mihail Minkov of Bulgaria, with his photo, Hand of God:

The Hand of God - Mihail Minkov (Bulgaria)

Taken with a Xiaomi 14 Ultra smartphone, this photo combines the Milky Way core rising with a stunning landscape.

Category Winners

Planetary Winner

Saturn Moon Conjunction 2025 - Gleb Siz (Poland)

The winner in the Planetary category is Gleb Siz of Poland with this Saturn Moon Conjunction 2025 taken with a Samsung S24 Ultra through a Sky-Watcher telescope:

Capturing Saturn above the moon with a smartphone like this is a great achievement.

Deep Sky Winner

Eta Carinae Through the Eyepiece - Lucas Goncalves (Brazil)

The winner of the deep sky category is Lucas Goncalves of Brazil with Eta Carinae Through the Eyepiece taken with a Xiaomi 12 smartphone through a telescope:

This photo demonstrates what smartphone cameras are really capable of when applying advanced astrophotography techniques. This photo is every bit as good as many deep sky images taken with specialist astronomy cameras.

Landscape Winner

Between the Worlds - Uros Fink (Slovenia)

Winner of the landscape astrophotography category is Uros Fink with Between the Worlds:

Taken with a Huawei P60 Pro, this stunning panorama captures the Milky Way arch perfectly aligned with the landscape and photographer's self-portrait.

If you would like more information about how all the winners and runners-up photos were taken, plus data on the most used phones, apps and more in the competition, get in touch at contact@skiesandscopes.com.

Sponsors

The winners take home prizes generously donated by our sponsors:

Runners-Up

The judges selected three photos in each category as runners-up.

Landscape

Celestial Dreams - Rob Kerby V. Guevarra
Light Gate - Sadeq Hayati
The Star Fortress - Ivan Ferrero

Deep Sky

Orion SouthCoast Dobsonian - Debojit Chakrabarty
Orion Widefield - Serhii Zhovtyi
Pacman Nebula - Jan Herlyn

Planetary

March Lunar Eclipse - Zac Vaillancourt
The Kiss (Moon and Venus) - Michele Paci
Saturne - Michael Dubois
Smartphone Milky Way photography course

Learn the technique

Smartphone Milky Way Blueprint

If you would like to learn how to take photos of the Milky Way with your smartphone, check out our mini-course, the Smartphone Milky Way Blueprint.

Highly Commended Photos

For the competition, we received hundreds of amazing submissions from over 30 different countries.

Covering nightscapes, planetary, and deep sky imaging, these photos demonstrate the stunning photographic capabilities of modern smartphones and celebrate what is now possible with the devices we all have in our pockets. Here are more highly commended photos that were entered:

Aurora at Black Point Ruins - Ray Mandeville
Geminidi Meteor Shower - Mihail Minkov
God's View - Tayla Fairclough
Evening on the Farm - Robert Walker
Selfie Under the Stars - Branko Nadj
Night at the Dead sea - Alex Savenok
Camping with Milky Way - Zahari Dimitrov
Aurora on Lofoten - Branko Nadj
Pinwheel Galaxy - Dan Conover
Milky Way - Daniela Csaszar
Orion Aura Farming - Wesley Alford
Under the Same Sky - Samit Saha
Lunar Eclipse March 2025 - Christian Lee
Driving to the Stars - Evyn Hernandez
Fly Me to the Moon - Sonia Turkington
Red - Radu Baranga
French Winter Arc Without Coffee - Pablo Javier Lucero
Lunar Halo Over Alaska - Rich Ruffini
A Song of Ice and Metal - Cesar Pariona
Star Trail 5.5 hours - Khumukcham Lenin Singh
Sirenas Bajo las Estrellas - Alvaro Ocana
Space Whirlpool - Tomas Tesar
Aurora Chapel - Tomas Tesar
Milky Way at Parkesburn - Debojit Chakrabarty
Star Trails - Harsh DM
Saaremaa Aurora - Zilvinas Degutis
Angels Hill - Zilvinas Degutis
Geminids Meteor Shower 2025 - John Paul Pile
Under the Milky Way - Sachin Chauhan
Sky on Fire - Martin Timko
Eye on the Cosmos - Martin Timko
Night Wanderer - Sadeq Hayati
Fairytale Valley - Nikita Galakhov
High detail Widefield Milky Way taken with a Phone - Lucas Goncalves
Saturn - Lucas Goncalves
Last Dance - Nikita Galakhov
Milky Way Over the Telescopes - Evgeni Tcherkasski
The Boat on Edersee - Evgeni Tcherkasski
Passo Kallikrati - Evgeni Tcherkasski
When The Tigers Broke Free - Benjamin Alldridge
Reflections in the Pond - Uros Fink
Lunar - Oliver Wakeman
Stellar Dance Over Lavender Fields - Lucy Yunxi Hu

Judges

Anthony Robinson, competition judge

Anthony Robinson

Anthony runs Skies & Scopes, showcasing the amazing work of some of the best astrophotographers in the world. He presents video analysis on his YouTube channel .

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Contact

Please direct any questions about Smartphone Astrophotographer of the Year to contact@skiesandscopes.com.