Ancients from Nicholas Buer on Vimeo.
You may have looked up before on a cool, clear night to see the hazy glow of the Milky Way stretching across the sky, but probably nothing like this. The video above, a mesmerizing time-lapse by photographer Nicholas Buer, features the otherworldly landscape and incredibly clear night sky of Chile’s Atacama desert — the same place that the European Southern Observatory selected to build its enormous telescope arrays that allow astronomers to get their best ground-based views of the universe.
Nicholas describes the high and dry location on his Vimeo page:
The Atacama is well-known for what are arguably the cleanest, darkest skies on Earth. The dry air adds an extra transparency and this coupled with the altitude creates a night sky like no other. I visited at a time when Venus was situated quite close to the centre of the Milky Way; an astronomical event that only takes place every 8 years or so. I also timed my visit with the Autumn equinox which is a good time of year to capture Zodiacal light; the celestial phenomenon caused by sunlight scattering interplanetary space dust in the Zodiacal cloud. It stretches across the ecliptic and glows for a short while after sunset like a UFO beam and I was lucky enough to witness this every night I stepped out into the dark.
“Ancients,” the result of Nicholas’ long voyage to San Pedro de Atacama and 12 days of shooting in a harsh, remote location, is simply amazing.
Read more at Discovery News
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