NMNS Science Photography Contest
M16 — Eagle Nebula and the Pillars of Creation
In 2024, somewhat on a whim, I entered the 9th Science Photography Contest held by Taiwan's National Museum of Natural Science (NMNS) with this image — a look back at the iconic Pillars of Creation once captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The list of selected works was announced in April 2025, and the award ceremony took place at the museum in Taichung on June 28.
Out of more than five hundred entries, 64 works were selected — and only two of them were astronomical images: one in the high-school division, and this one. A major reason there were so few is that astrophotography submissions are vastly outnumbered by genres such as wildlife and underwater photography. Apart from a single aurora and a handful of optics or geology landscapes, nearly all the other selected works were nature and underwater photography, and both grand prizes went to underwater images as well. I believe astrophotography still has enormous room to grow on this stage.
On the day of the ceremony, I brought the kids along for an outing to Taichung, went on stage to receive the award, and in the afternoon shared my astrophotography experience with fellow science photographers unfamiliar with the field. We ended the day exploring the museum's exhibition halls — a truly wonderful venue.
