ESO Photo Ambassador Petr Horálek

Born in 1986 in Czechia, Petr studied Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics at Masaryk University Brno. After his studies he worked briefly as an observer of fireballs at the Department for Interplanetary Matter of the Astronomical Institute of Academy of Sciences of Czechia. During this period he fell in love with astrophotography and decided to take a year-long trip around the world to improve his skills in that field.

As citizen of a light-polluted Czechia, he decided to capture the night skies above the naturally dark places in the world to show people in polluted cities what are they missing (not only) above their heads. A long route through the Canary Islands, Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands and South Africa brought him in the end into the heart of the Atacama Desert at ESO's La Silla and Paranal Observatory in 2015. Petr specialises in photographing rare night-sky phenomena. His images capture unique moments, which he calls "pearls of astronomy", that add to the immeasurable beauty of a dark starry sky. Something, he thinks that everyone should see at some point in their lives.

More information about the ESO Photo Ambassadors are available here.