From the Milky Way to meteor showers to fireflies that emerge at dusk on neighborhood streets, our eyes open a little wider at the stunning photos and videos of National Geographic Explorer Babak Tafreshi. He has spent his career documenting wildlife, humanity, and the cosmos—from dark national parks to bright urban areas—with the belief that people everywhere can connect through the shared experience of simply looking up.

National Geographic Explorer Babak Tafreshi is a photographer and cinematographer who merges art and science through visual stories. Tafreshi created The World At Night program in 2007 with the message of One People One Sky and has been directing its team of photographers in approximately 30 countries. He received the 2009 Lennart Nilsson Award, the world’s most recognized scientific imaging award at the time, for his effort to reconnect humanity with the natural world using night sky images. He has been a National Geographic contributor since 2012, and he is a 2022 National Geographic Society Wayfinder Award recipient.