Babak Tafreshi Photography

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Boston, MA
Babak Tafreshi Photography

National Geographic night sky photographer & science journalist, directing The World at Night (TWAN) project.

10/27/2026

Tap the link in bio or visit babaktafreshi.com/book for signed and personalized copies of The World at Night book (US shipping only). For international audience please order on major online stores. The book is also published in French, German, Japanese, and Chinese.
The book includes ~ 200 photos and stories from around the world, representing many years of work by TWAN _ The World At Night team of night sky photographers. The text provides educational and easy-to-understand essays on astronomy, stargazing, astrophotography, celestial events, dark skies importance, and light pollution impact.

10/24/2026

A moment of peace, with this brilliant aurora storm above western Iceland. Learn about my 2027 Aurora PhotoTour in the link in bio, or visit babaktafreshi.com/workshop.

10/21/2026

Just about 2 hours drive from Washington DC, there is a dark sky refuge: Shenandoah National Park. Last week on a National Geographic Society speaking trip to DC, I had a free night and clear skies to visit Shenandoah National Park for the first time. This is a part of my ongoing project National Parks at Night.
Behind the scene sunset photos (3 & 10) by my colleague Lori Epstein.
Music: Barbad Bayat, a part of our project

10/19/2026

Two years ago on these nights a bright naked eye comet known as A3 passed by our planet. It was almost full moon and I was on assignment for at the remote Manicouagan Reservoir in Quebec (a massive asteroid impact crater from 214 million years ago). Music: , a part of our growing project

10/17/2026

An autumn moonlit night in California’s . Music by , a part of our project.

10/15/2026

Iceland Galaxy Rise
Swipe to see the entire panorama. At the break of dawn, light of a far fishing boat glows on the horizon.The rising Milky Way is stretched across the sky from Sagittarius on the horizon to bright stars of the Summer Triangle (Vega in Lyra, Altair in Aquila, Deneb in Cygnus). On earth, the iconic giant sea stacks of Vik, on the southern coast of Iceland, rise up from Atlantic waters. This unique viewpoint on the black sand beach is only accessible in a short period of time on low tide before it sinks under massive waves.
For print inquiries please tap the link in bio to the image catalog or message.

10/12/2026

From October to December multiple active and long-period meteor showers occur every year. From Orionids that peaks on Oct. 20 to Taurids in early-mid November, Leonids on Nov. 17-18, and Geminids that peak on Dec 13-14 (often far more active than the others). If you like to prepare for these I do have a webinar on meteor photography on my Learning Night Sky Photography online courses. Tap the link in bio or visit babaktafreshi.com/webinar
A rare yellow fireball above Zion, Utah. Swipe for more.

A typical colorful green meteor above the Monument Valley, Arizona-Utah border.

A bright meteor in the southern sky above a radio telescope in Chile, with the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (our neighboring dwarf galaxies). At La Silla Observatory ESO

Leonid Meteor Shower above moonlit GrandCanyonNPS

A green fireball during Geminis Meteor Shower in December, above a temporary lake in Badwater basin in Death Valley National Park

A Leonid meteor in California’s Death Valley National Park

Double meteors on a single 20 second exposure above Badwater basin in Death Valley National Park and the glow of Los Angeles from about 200 miles away!

10/10/2026

Strong aurora activity is expected tonight and tomorrow that can reach mid-latitudes too. Particles from a massive solar eruptions have arrived are raining down to our atmosphere. Check spaceweather.com for the latest updates.
These photos from May 2024 are not from the Arctic, captured near Maine-Massachusetts border, during a major aurora storm.

10/06/2026

Early this morning I photographed a celestial spectacle right from my backyard, near Boston. Hidden behind the moon for an hour, Jupiter reappeared from the dark night side of the moon, like a sparkling diamond. The rare phenomena is called occultation.
Slide 1: timelapse videos of the scene through a 600mm telephoto lens (cropped).
2: Moon is departing away from the alignment in twilight.
3: An HDR image (3 exposures) to reveal the lunar details in both its bright dayside and the faint earthshine glow on the night side of the moon.
4: A longer 30-second exposure on a star tracker has overexposed the moon to reveal the background starry sky.

10/04/2026

Moonrise behind the Leaning Tower of Pisa, from a 2023 project with my Italian colleague Pierluigi Giacobazzi to document the birthplace of Galileo and where he experimented free fall and gravity, where he discovered the moons of Jupiter. The 14th century tower is in Piazza del Duomo square.

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Boston, MA

Website

http://babaktafreshi.com/

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