Babak Tafreshi is a science photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer who, since beginning astrophotography in the 1990s, has merged art and science through visual stories. Using photos, videos and 360 immersive media, he has documented breathtaking night scenes from all continents. Since 2007, Tafreshi has been directing a growing team of photographers in nearly 25 countries for “The World at Night” project. His other long-term projects are “Life at Night Atlas” (where, since 2023, he has documented the night-time ecosystem and impact of light pollution) and “From Above & Below” (where, since 2024, he has achieved coordinated Earth-space night photography). His imagery aims to reconnect humanity with the natural world, reveal the wonders of science to public, and connect cultures through common interest in the night sky. In 2009, he received the Lennart Nilsson Award, the world’s most recognized scientific imaging award at the time, and in 2022, he earned the Royal Photographic Society Award and the National Geographic Society’s Wayfinder Award. The International Astronomical Union named the minor planet 276163 — an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter—after Tafreshi, whose interest in astronomy began when he first saw the moon through a telescope as a child in Tehran, Iran.

Photo by Babak Tafreshi