Babak Tafreshi is an Iranian American science photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer at Large based in Boston. He merges art and science through visual stories, using photos, videos, and 360-degree immersive media. 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 nighttime ecosystem and impact of light pollution), From Above and Below (where, since 2024, he has achieved coordinated Earth-space night photography), and National Parks at Night. His imagery aims to reconnect humanity with the natural world, reveal the wonders of science to the 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 a Royal Photographic Society Award and the National Geographic Society’s Wayfinder Award. The International Astronomical Union named the minor planet 276163 after Tafreshi, whose interest in astronomy began when he first saw the moon through a telescope as a child in Tehran.
By capturing the same thing from very different perspectives, a NASA astronaut and an intrepid photographer create a whole new way of seeing our world.
Learn MoreThis website was made possible thanks to the generous support and partnership of 