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    I Flew 6,000 Miles to see the Darkest Skies on Earth in the Atacama Desert. This Picture was Taken with an Old DSLR.
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    I Flew 6,000 Miles to see the Darkest Skies on Earth in the Atacama Desert. This Picture was Taken with an Old DSLR.

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    1. Correct_Presence_936 on

      This summer I traveled from Seattle to Chile, specifically a very small town in the middle of the Atacama Desert known as San Pedro de Atacama, which hosts one of the darkest night skies on Earth.

      I planned this trip to be during a new Moon, and during the month that the Milky Way is directly upwards in the sky for the best visibility.

      Seeing it with the naked eye so easily that you could see it even while squinting was truly life changing. You no longer see the sky as a 2d sheet of stars, you see it as a 3d spiral galaxy, with you sitting on a rock in one of its outer arms. It’s alive.

      I strongly suggest anyone who’s never seen the Milky Way to look at a light pollution map and try to find an area nearby that has dark (bortle 1-3) skies. It simply changes the perspective of this reality.

      Thanks for reading!

      Equipment: Canon 6D, 16-35mm lens, 5 x 10s exposures. Blended on Sequator, further edits on Adobe Lightroom.

    2. gogopops on

      I was visiting my wife’s family (I’m from Scotland) on the other side of the Atacama Desert back in December 2024. Also went stargazing at midnight.

      Could see the milkyway, all the constellations, shooting stars etc. I loved the sound of silence, we were 30 miles away from any phone signal.

      Even a couple of UFOs showed up…. 2 balls of white lights just moving around.

      Was truly a life time experience. Hope I can go back soon.

    3. relaximusprime on

      This is amazing. I still marvel at how insignificant our differences are on the cosmic scale…

    4. PiratePuzzled1090 on

      This is a bucket list item of mine!

      I only have two in the list.

      The first is going to space. So I’m saving for the Atacama trip haha.

    5. nubbie on

      Only reason ever for me to visit a large country like the US is to find those dark sky spots. Aren’t many here in Denmark.

    6. LinguoBuxo on

      “*The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination.*”

      –Douglas Adams