/ 2025 / Nature / Astrophotography

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Yukio Nodo, Japan

Japan’s Sanriku coastline, with its intricate ria formations, stretches over 600 km and features towering cliffs, twisted rocks, and wave-sculpted caves. Descending the cliff and standing at the water’s edge, I encountered a profound contrast: the ever-changing rock formations shaped over millions of years by rough seas and tsunamis, and the Milky Way, a constant presence in the sky for billions of years. This moment brought me face to face with two forces that transcend human time — one born of earth’s turmoil, the other of the cosmos — quietly coexisting in the twilight.