In recent years it seems to be fashionable to be able and to know how to photograph the Milky Way. No wonder it is in fashion and certainly a good trend…. After all, dark, starry skies are exceptionally beautiful and due to light pollution they have become scarce. On the island of La Palma, it is still possible to find dark skies easily and, in fact, it is considered one of the best places in the world to stargaze. It has also become a mecca for astrotourism, observe stars and night photography as the whole island has exceptional landscapes for this practice. If you are planning a trip to La Palma or anywhere else with dark skies and want to do nightscape photography, you need to be prepared. Here are the basics you need to know.

Recommended equipment for nightscape photography: preparation.

There is no room for improvisation when it comes to equipment for night photography. You must be well prepared, as night sessions usually take place in inaccessible or distant locations to avoid light pollution.

This is the equipment I recommend for night photography.

• Camera. The type of camera will depend on your budget as it is usually an expensive equipment. However, you will need a bright (fast) lens and a camera that allows at least 3200 ISO and long exposure. In general terms make sure the camera has: manual settings, RAW format, bulb mode, if possible full frame, noise reduction option and Live View mode (for manual focus).
• A wide-angle lens: 24mm, 14mm are ideal.
• A telephoto lens (if you want to photograph the moon).
• An Intervalometer.
• Warm, comfortable clothing and footwear.
• Spare batteries.
• A sturdy tripod.
• Memory cards.
• Camera backpack with different compartments (ideally waterproof).
• Headlamp, preferably red or white/red.
• Mobile phone with a charged battery.

Of course, once you have the right equipment, you need to know how to use it. It is best to start in the daytime, getting to know the camera settings (functions and changing parameters) and practising, as well as learning how to access and modify the menu and how to handle the camera in the dark. Other considerations are that it is best never to go alone to take pictures at night, simply for safety reasons.

What to photograph in the night sky?

Once you have your equipment, you need to plan what you are going to photograph – the Milky Way? constellations? It is vital to know what you want to photograph, as well as the time of night when you can do it. Photographing the winter sky is not the same as photographing the summer sky. Just as you can’t get the same results if there is a moon. Therefore, it is vital to have the right equipment and to have a basic knowledge of the sky to know where the Milky Way is and at what time you can see it, or how to find the North Star if you want to do a startrail for example. I recommend accessing the chosen location before sunset to prepare the best composition, make sure there are no obstacles or dangerous terrain.

Tips for nightscape photography.

• Knowing how to take advantage of moments of light. In landscape photography at night, there is hardly ever enough light, so a dim crescent moon or a small background light, such as a lighthouse, can completely change a night landscape. Also, in the dark, colours do not appear the same as they do during the day, so a dim light or illumination changes the landscape again.
• Changing perspective and angle
• RAW format photography
• Natural lighting. This goes for moon or sunset.
• Minimise ISO. A beginner’s mistake is to raise the ISO as high as possible. However cameras have their best dynamic range much lower, at 1600 ISO for example (do check the manual of your camera). And it is at this point that you get the best colours of the night sky.
• Take care of the composition.
• Know what hyperfocal is and know how to use it.
• Focus: The focus for stars is always the same for any given lens and is not necessarily the infinity. Focus in manual in liveview and once you have it tape the focus wheel. There is nothing worse than thinking your photos are in focus and coming home after a long night and your photos are unfocusses!
• The Golden Rule (combination of ISO, aperture and exposure time that it works best. See more on our following post).

Landscape night photography made in La Palma. Instagram: @lapalmastars.

More photo on our  Photo Gallery.

If you are interested in taking a specialised course in night landscape photography, we recommend the webinars of our partner Babak Tafreshi, National Geographic photographer and president of TWAN.

La entrada Nightscape photography: preparation. se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.

For this reason, La Palma promotes values associated with the quality and enjoyment of the sky, such as cultural (archaeoastronomical sites), scientific (astronomical research), astronomical (observatories and amateur observation), landscape or natural (astronomical viewpoints, etc), tourist activities such as our stargazing activities and other businesses ranging from restaurants, themed accommodation and the organisation of astronomical events.

Currently, La Palma has exclusion zones where the natural lighting conditions and clarity of the night sky remain intact, and it also has a participative action plan and a set of recommendations aimed at preserving or recovering the quality of the night sky as far as possible.

You can enjoy the sky of La Palma in one of our astronomical viewpoints or sites of astronomical interest: viewpoints or book one of our astronomy tours to enjoy the stars with a guide and telescopes.

More information about the Starlight Reserve at: Starlight Iniciative y Proyecto Starisland La Palma.

La entrada La Palma is a Starlight Reserve se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.

The island of La Palma, “the beautiful island” of the Canary Islands is one of the best places in the world for stargazing. It is not necessary to be an expert if you wish to learn about constellations and to enjoy a starry night. In La Palma it can be very easy and entertaining and you could do it, for example, in one of our astronomy tours. Did you know about them?

But why is the sky of La Palma so beautiful and transparent? There are many factors that allow this: humidity, altitude, climate, low air pollution… La Palma is a pioneer protecting dark skies. From 1988 has a law that protects against light pollution (Low of the Sky). It is aimed to minimize light pollution and for this even flora helps! In fact, it was the world’s first Starlight Reserve, a UNESCO certification that certifies the ideal conditions for observing the sky for everyone, not just professionals, and it guarantees its protection.

In any case … why look for even more reasons to come to La Palma? The most important thing is that the sky and landscapes are beautiful that are worth seeing any thime! Nothing equals how you can feel almost touching the stars or walking along a volcanic sand beach on this island. In a single day you can be in a volcanic desert in the south and see the only active salt flats of the Canary Islands (Salinas de Fuencaliente), walk through a tropical rainforest in the north (Los Tilos or the Forest of La Galga), walking at the National Park (Taburiente National Park), go swimming or climb above the clouds to see stars …. Only a few places in the world offer so many contrasts and beautiful landscapes in such a small area.

La Palma is a mini-continent that never ceases to surprise.

La entrada Stargazing in La Palma se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.

Photo: Group photo participants Interreg program nightlight in Matera Italy.

La entrada Participation European Interreg Night Light program se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.

• the darkness of the island
• a stable atmosphere
• the low air and light pollution
• the observatory being above the cloud level for more than 300 days on a given year
• the sky of La Palma is also protected by law from 1989 (Law of the sky), enforcing the control of light pollution by regulating street lighting and air communication routes.

Visits to the Observatory can be booked here: Daytime Visits.

New telescopes at Observatory Roque Muchachos

The newest incorporation to the Observatory facilities in recent years are 23 Cherenkov telescopes which will be part of the International Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). La Palma will be the northern site for this network. The largest Cherenkov telescopes will have 23 m in diameter. In 2016, the fundation has been laid for the 3rd Cherenkov telescope in La Palma.

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy at very-high energies. With more than 100 telescopes located in the northern and southern hemispheres, CTA will be the world’s largest and most sensitive high-energy gamma-ray observatory. This network will be capable of observing the whole of the sky, inside and outside our galaxy as it will have 120 telescopes between both hemispheres. It will also cover a very wide range of energies ranges from several dozen Gev to 100TeV (1 TeV = 1012 eV) seeking to understand the origin and role of relativistic cosmic particles, probe extreme environments and explore physics frontiers.

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is very possibly another incorporation to the Observatory. It is planned to be located on Mauna Kea (Hawaii) but its construction has been temporarily halted due to protests by Native Hawaiian americans. In 2015, the State Supreme Court of Hawaii invalidated the TMT’s building permits and it is likely that the telescope cannot be built in Hawaii. Hence Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma is the alternative site. At the end of 2017, the final decision of the site for TMT will be decided.

The TMT is much larger than existing telescopes (although the E-ELT telescope is still bigger) and it is designed to observe from near ultraviolet to mid-infrarred (wavelength 0.31 to 28 μm). It also have adaptive optics which will help to correct errors caused by Earth´s atmosphere helping the telescope to reach its maximum resolution.

La entrada The Observatory of El Roque de Los Muchachos from the island of La Palma se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.

Light pollution is defined as the introduction of artificial light to an ecosystem (into naturally dark situations), degrading its natural state with the emission of light of different intensities, directions, spectral range and/or unnecessarily varying a light/dark schedule (ie. having lights on a empty office building or streets lights on after certain times).

It is obvious that humans need and use artificial light during the night just…well…simply to live. But the use of artificial light should be in equilibrium with the nocturnal life, energy efficiency and health (avoiding the alteration of sleep patterns and the effect of artificial light at night on some cancers). We should try to minimize the impact of light pollution reducing the negative effects by designing better street lighting, scheduling of street lights, etc.

Light pollution increases the background brightness of the sky by reflecting and diffusion artificial light into the gases and particles in the air. This results in a reduction of visibility of the stars and other celestial objects.

The Sky Law in the Canary Islands (1989) controls gas emissions to the atmosphere on the island, as well as light pollution and air communications routes. The aim of the law is to have transparent and dark sky, with good (if not outstanding) quality for both amateur and professional astronomy. As a result, La Palma is a Dark Reserve (a Starlight Reserve) and thanks to this it has developed a Sustainable Tourism Industry based on the sky. There are many options for astrotourism in La Palma, we recommend you to enjoy the sky in one of our astronomy tours.

La entrada What is light pollution? se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.

What is the Milky Way?

The Milky Way is the galaxy in which Earth and the Solar System lies. It contains more than 200 000 million of stars and its diameter is estimated to be about 100 000 light-years (about 420 000 000 000 000 000 Km). From a dark location on Earth, we can only see a tiny part of our galaxy, only our neighbouring stars really. And only if you are on those dark locations you may be lucky enough to see the disk of the galaxy.

About 50 years ago, everybody was able to identify the Milky Way in the sky even if they did not know what it really was. Nowadays, due to light pollution, it is estimated than less of 70 % of Earth population in Europe or United States have ever seen the Milky Way. This is because, the light pollution has stolen the light of the stars. La Palma is still one of those few places on this planet from which the stars and dark sky are visible, even from populated towns. This is thanks to light pollution being controlled by law (Law of the sky, 1989). So, do come to La Palma! You now know that besides the beautiful landscapes and protected areas on the island, visitors can also enjoy the light of the stars. You can even try to reach them with the tips of your fingers!

If interested you may observe the Milky Way and the starry sky at one of the astronomical viewpoints or sites of astronomical interest on La Palma: Miradores astronómicos, or you can book one of our astronomy tours, where you can also see it through telescopes.

La entrada Who has stolen the stars? se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.

More information

La entrada What is an astronomy viewpoint? se publicó primero en AstroLaPalma.