Bronze in Nature/Astrophotography / 2026 / Nature / Astrophotography

• Prize
  Bronze in Nature/Astrophotography
• Photographer
  Angel Fux, Switzerland
• Date of Photograph
  March 19th, 2026

Once a year, both arms of the Milky Way share the same sky. This image captures that singular night from the Dent d'Hérens, a summit at 4,200 meters on the Swiss-Italian border, reached only by helicopter in winter. What was planned as a double arch became something rarer: the gegenschein, a counterglow caused by sunlight scattering off interplanetary dust, appears as a third arch crossing the frame. The landscape below looks toward the Matterhorn. The sky above holds three arches, each a different layer of the universe, in a single night that cannot be repeated.