Atacama Desert

Category: Vertical Panorama

IG: victorlimaphoto

Story:

Under the pristine skies of the Atacama Desert, this panoramic image captures the galactic core of the Milky Way in breathtaking detail. Rising diagonally from the southwestern horizon, the dense star fields and dark dust lanes of our galaxy stretch across the frame, illuminated by prominent emission nebulae such as the Lagoon (M8) and Trifid (M20), along with countless hydrogen-alpha regions revealed by a h-alpha modified camera. A faint airglow in reddish-orange tones adds an ethereal veil to the sky.

In the foreground, the silhouette of a native algarrobo tree (Prosopis chilensis) stands resilient against the arid landscape, while the distant Andes and the volcanic peaks of Licancabur and Juriques mark the boundary between Earth and sky. Captured under a Bortle 1 sky, free from light pollution, this scene is a powerful intersection of terrestrial stillness and cosmic motion — a moment where the silence of the desert meets the eternal dance of the galaxy.

 

EXIF:

Canon 6D Ha-modified

Sigma 20mm f/1.4 Art

Panorama: 4 horizontal frames

Exposure: 25s · f/1.8 · ISO 2500

Location: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Done