Babak Amin Tafreshi is an Iranian amateur astronomer, photographer, and science journalist. He is the creator and director of The World At Night

The World At Night

The World At Night is an international project to produce and present a collection of high-quality photos, videos, and virtual reality images of the night sky taken at various natural, cultural, and historic locations worldwide....

 (TWAN), an international program in which photographers from around the world capture images of night skies as seen above notable landmarks of the planet. He is also a member of the board of advisors of Astronomers Without Borders and a project coordinator for the International Year of Astronomy

International Year of Astronomy

The International Year of Astronomy was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century...

 (IYA2009).

In 2009, he won the Lennart Nilsson Award for best scientific photography, in joint with NASA’s Cassini Imaging Director Carolyn Porco

Carolyn Porco

Carolyn C. Porco is an American planetary scientist known for her work in the exploration of the outer solar system, beginning with her imaging work on the Voyager missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the 1980s. She leads the imaging science team on the Cassini mission currently in...

.