Posted 10.25.2010 at 1:59 pm
15 Comments
The Darkest Sky
Stéphane Guisard
If you’re going to photograph the cosmos, the first step is to find somewhere really dark where Earthly light pollution won’t spoil your shot. Following this line of thought to its logical limits, astrophotographer Stéphane Guisard went in search of the darkest possible sky he could find here on Earth, and found it at just the right time and place in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The results are these breathtaking shots that on first glance may look noisy and polluted -- until you take a good close-up look at what’s really there.
The images above and below were taken during a new moon, meaning there is no moonlight to mute the incoming light from elsewhere in the universe. Moreover, Guisard took the shot at such a time of year that the Milky Way, usually seen as a band of light across the night sky, is actually circling the horizon. The rim of light surrounding the full-sky views isn’t sunlight or light form nearby cities, but actually the galaxy itself. Guisard also took measures to time the photo so as to minimize this light as well.
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Science, Clay Dillow, astronomy, astrophotography, Atacama Desert, milky way, Photography, SpaceBut if you’re just looking at the shots on this page, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Click through the link below to get up close and personal with zoom-able, pan-able versions that really let the stars shine through.
The Darkest Sky, Unraveled: Stéphane Guisard
[Astrosurf via Bad Astronomy]
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Pretty cool, pretty cool. :)
I did not know you could see several galaxies with the naked eye.
...sorry ... the server hosting the image linked in this blog has failed. I have made a mirror copy of it here :
http://www.eso.org/~sguisard/Pagim/darkest_sky.html
Sorry for the convenience,
Stéphane
This is beyond cool. We camped in the North Georgia mountains once and the night sky was brilliant. But this is amazing. I'd love to see it first hand.
Love, Peace & Soul
That solar system dust lane is so cool, and being able to see barnards loop is neat too.
Wow, thanks so much for the corrected link! These are really beautiful!
I get so jealous of the Southern Hemisphere! In the north we don't have anything comparable to the Magellanic Clouds!
I wish there was a way to implement the "panning horizon" animation as wall-papaer or as my desk-top.
I wonder what he did, to pass the time, during the longest of these exposures. Prolly couldn't even deploy a Mag-lite to rummage thru the ice chest.
"My God ! ... It's full of STARS ! "
= 2010 =
youtube.com/watch?v=jDPTOmcpDRA&feature=related
wow! thanks for the link. Amazed with the beauty of nature.
Cool!
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Is it because the sky is dark that's why we can see many stars?