A review of my highlights from my first year as an astronomer in Tenerife.
One of the better kept secrets in the world of still photography is the great opportunities that Tenerife affords to keen photographers. From the cliffs at Los Gigantes the valley of La Masca to the surreal volcanic landscape up in the Teide national park. Diverse flora and fauna add to the mix. Film location directors have known the benefits of filming in Tenerife since 2001 when Tenerife born Juan Carlos Fresnadillo shot the film Intacto which claimed critical success with its its high impact scenes shot in Las Cañadas, Masca, Puerto de la Cruz and Taganana. Since then we have had films like The Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, Fast and Furious 6 and recently Matt Damon in one of the Bourne Identity series. I have personal experience of the process of securing film locations back in 2012 when I first moved in to Casa Zaguan in Vilafor the location director for Fast and Furious 6 came looking for a large Spanish colonial house overlooking a plaza. Unfortunately, on this occasion they chose another location.
As the sunsets over the islands of La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro beautiful sunsets are a regular occurrence. Then up at a height of 7500ft above sea level in the extinct volcanic bowl known as the La Caldera and a dark sky park a billion stars appear along with planets nebulas and star clusters along with a volcanic background that is ideal for nightscape photography. Tenerife has more than just a dark sky park in its favour. Its not only a Bortle scale 3 dark site (rural) it has Low humidity and a peak of 3715meters above sea level offers a greater transparency plus a unique blanket of clouds below forms a natural layer concealing the light pollution from the coast, keeping the air clean and calm, and affording long observation hours. Astrophotographers have a wide choice of Nightscape, Milky way, Planetary, Lunar and Deep space photography with good weather conditions as a bonus.
It is not by chance that Teide National Park houses the Canary Islands Observatory and the Institute of Astrophysics, which receives support from 19 countries and is equipped with state-of-the-art technology for studying the skies. The observatory stands at an altitude of 2,400 m (7,875 ft) above sea level.
Take a look at the Tenerife Astronomy and Astrophotography face book page run by our own Peter Louer to see some of the great photos taken up at the Caldera. Peter is our astrophotography guide.
Thanks for taking the time for reading my Blog if you have any questions or comments you can always reach me on reservations@darkskiestenerifeguide.com or Whatsup me on 07766668856
Steve Phelps
Any questions as always drop me a message or leave a comment.
But for now, this is Stargazing Tenerife team signing off, just look up and wonder guys!
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