Big Sky of Patagonia

From El Chalten in Patagonia, Argentina, a 6-km hike up to the nearby mountains finds the great vista of granite peaks, with the most prominent one being Fitz Roy rising as high as 3400 meters above the sea level. This all-sky panorama from a mirador catches the Milky Way stretching from north to south over the forest and mountain landscape of Los Glaciares National Park, with Fitz Roy and neighbouring peaks in the west lit by the light of the rising last quarter Moon.

In late spring, the total darkness lasts only 2 to 2.5 hours at that high latitude, 50° south. Thus at the time of photography, the morning twilight has already started. The bright southern star Canopus shines a few degrees away from the zenith, right at the center of the panorama. Canopus is positioned 75 degrees away from the ecliptic. So, when it is overhead, it is never truly dark, as the Sun never gets more than 15 degrees under the horizon.

The shooting of this all-sky panorama was caught in the movie Babak Tafreshi shot (click here), as Tunç Tezel works with a camera while touring around the tripod on the foreground, at minute marks 1:00-1:06  and 1:26-1:29.