Milky Way Steaming Volcano

Viewing the Sky from very high altitude locations is an amazing experience. Stars become sharp and dazzling with less atmospheric turbulence and extinction affected on their light. In April 2010 two TWAN photographers from Germany and Chile (Bernd Proshcold and Stephane Guisard) joined a challenging mission to photograph majestic volcanoes from locations near 5000m high in Chilean Altiplano (where the Andes are at their widest). Located inside Lauca National Park at Chile’s far north on the border with Bolivia, volcanoes Pomerape (6282 m) and Parinacota (6332 m) are photographed here under the Milky Way. The central and brightest region of the Milky Way is captured at upper right. As noted by Stephane Guisard “The stretched Milky Way above Parinacota was like the volcano is steaming away stars and nebulae to create the Milky Way!” In fact Parinacota is an active volcano and has definitely erupted within the last 2000 years.