Bulgarian photographer wins astrophotography contest with Northern Lights image

Bulgarian photographer and architect Radoslav Sviretsov, who has been living in Iceland since 2025, has won first prize in the Aurorae category of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2026 international competition, organised by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in London, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reported.

His award-winning photograph, The Crown, was taken near a small church in Iceland in January 2026, during a powerful geomagnetic storm, shortly before midnight and far from any city lights.

“The sky was glowing, and the landscape beneath it was illuminated by the power of the Northern Lights. At certain moments, the aurora was so intense that it even lit up the ground beneath us, turning everything white, as though night itself had briefly vanished. In moments like this, I feel nothing but gratitude, simply for having been in the right place at the right time,” the photographer said.

In 2026, Sviretsov also won the international final of EISA Maestro in the single-photograph category with an aerial image taken in Vietnam. His photographs have been published by The Times, Forbes, The Guardian, PetaPixel and Bored Panda.

Edited by Miglena Ivanova