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La Palma 2022 - Astronomy
Two times I was already on La Palma to do astrophotography and to explore the beautiful island. But it was a long time ago. The desire to visit La Palma again - this time with modern and sophisticated astrophotography equipment - was great.
After two years of pandemic and many uncertainties, La Palma seemed to be a good option to spend the summer vacation 2022 there. After long planning to rent astrophoto equipment from the ATHOS Star Campus in Las Tricias and thorough research regarding suitable fincas near Puntagorda, we went to Isla Bonita for 14 days during the new moon phase in August 2022.
Unfortunately the weather played caprioles. After initial rain - in August on La Palma a rarity - then came the Calima with hot temperatures and high clouds, which covered the whole island. This made the ambitious astro program more difficult. But the first rented finca, the Casa Miramatos south of Puntagorda - was almost ideal as an astro observing site. The beautiful terrace tiled with natural stones offered a passable view to the southern sky despite some high trees. The view to the Atlantic Ocean 500m below was terrific!
The second finca, the very similar Casa Miramar, also offered a good view of the sky and was even closer to the Atlantic. Just the view of the water and the play of the clouds with the setting sun from the skywalk on the finca was restful and relaxing!
On seven days I had rented a 10micron GM1000HPS plus Aries tripod and powerbox from the ATHOS Star Campus. In addition I had brought my Image Train with A&M TMB 115/805 APO, Riccardi Reducer and ASI6200MM camera and filter wheel in the flight luggage. I had to book 30 kg of additional luggage at high cost to be able to transport a total of three suitcases plus hand luggage with Condor. The entire equipment is very similar to the mobile astrophoto setup I use at home, so that I had very quickly set up a working system - a lesson learned from my last La Palma vacation, where the equipment unfortunately had not worked as desired.
Furthermore I rented a 16" Infinity Dobson from ATHOS for one night and drove up to 2000m altitude to enjoy the summer starry sky visually under really ideal conditions. The very steep concrete road up to the Llanos de las Animas and a large water tank was really a good tip from the owner of Athos. The conditions up there are just as good as on the Roque, but without the annoying wind and dust and the curvy switchbacks of the LP-4.
Another night I had rented from ATHOS a really excellent Celestron C11 with lerhbook stellar imaging. Such a Schmidt-Cassegrain I had not seen before. Unfortunately the aftermath of the weather phenomenon Calima was still visible in the atmosphere - the seeing was cruelly bad and therefore planetary observation on top of Roque de Los Muchachos was not possible. But I used the goto system of the 10micron to observe many Messier and NGC objects deep in the south through the C11 in a short time.
My observing site on the terrace of Finca Casa Miramatos near Puntagorda on the northwest coast of La Palma. Despite some tall trees, the view of the dark summer night sky was good. The setup with the 10micron GM1000HPS, the Aries tripod and my Image Train with the proven TMB 115/805 APO and the ASI6200MM was the perfect choice!
Image below: I rented a Infinity 16" Dobsonian at the ATHOS Star Campus and drove up the steep road to the water tank near the Llano de Animas, very close to Roque de Los Muchachos and the observatory, but without the inconvenience of driving up the winding LP-4 road. Conditions were near perfect: no clouds, dark Bortle 2 sky, a concrete base for the telescope, and absolute quietness.
One of the aquired pictures: vdb152, called Wolfs Cave in Cepheus.
The two Astrolocations near the Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma: one is near the Llanos de las Animas as stated on Google Maps, GPS coordinates 28.748366, -17.908871. It is a steep paved road that starts at the petrol station in Puntagorda. A paraglider launching site is also located on this runway and is signposted.
The other site is at the Pista Gallegos, or Camino Llano Tauce as stated on Google Maps, GPS coordinates 28.765686, -17.854665. It is not protected against wind and dust and might only be used if weather conditions are good.
Nightscapes
Here is a selection of Nighscapes I have captured during my Astrophotosessions.
Image above: my mobile astrophotography setup during my vacation on La Palma in 2022. The 10micron GM1000HPS, Aries tripod and battery were rented from the ATHOS Star Campus in Las Tricias. The A&M TMB 115/805 triplet APO and Riccardi M82 reducer, the ASI6200MM with a 2" filter wheel, and the 50mm guidescope with the ASI120MM mini are my own image train that I took to La Palma in checked luggage.
Dawn at Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, at 2000m altitude after a long clear night under the canopy of stars. The young crescent moon rises above the sea of clouds of the Atlantic and illuminates my astrophoto setup with the 10micron GM1000HPS and my TMB APO. As a small SUV, the Kia Stonic was very handy in transporting the equipment to this remote location. At an altitude of 2000 m above sea level I found a good observing site at the so called Pista de Gallegos, a small road leading north from LP-4 near Roque de Los Muchachos. The observing conditions that night were quite good, it was windless and temperatures were around 7°C. The Calima weather phenomenon had passed, but observing conditions had not yet fully stabilized. Canon EOS RP + Sigma Art 28mm f1.4.
Astrophotography
vdb126 Loch Ness Nebula. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This is one of the shots I have aquired during my 2022 vacation on a rented Finca in the city of Puntagorda in the north-western part of the small island La Palma.
Link: Full Res Image vdb126 annotated with B-V star colors
44x180s Clear + 10x180s RGB and 3.7h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: City of Puntagorda, La Palma, Canary Islands, 600 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 3.
vdb152 Wolfs Cave Nebula with Barnard 175 and LBN538 in Cepheus. Taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. I took this picture during one of my trips to Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophotography equipment. At an altitude of 2000m a.s.l. I found a good observing site at the so-called Pista de Gallegos, a small road turning north from LP-4 near Roque de Los Muchachos. Due to a weather phenomenon called Calima, observing conditions were difficult, with clouds and very poor seeing. Therefore, I had little time to collect enough light for this very faint object. The colorful circular nebula to the right hand side of the image is LBN538, a so-called Strömgren Sphere.
Link: Full Res Image Wolfs Cave Nebula
39x180s Clear + 20x180s RGB and 5h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.
NGC6820 in the constellation Vulpeca. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This is one of the shots I have aquired during my 2022 vacation on a rented Finca in the city of Puntagorda in the north-western part of the small island La Palma. Due to bad weather conditions I had only very limited time to gather Ha data. So I could only aquire 40 min of Ha, which was blended with the RGB image for increasing the contrast of the hydrogen structures of Sh2-86, 87 and 88.
Link: Full Res Image NGC6820 annotated with B-V star colors
4x600s Ha3nm + 24x180s RGB and 4.2h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: City of Puntagorda, La Palma, Canary Islands, 600 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 3.
NGC6357 War and Peace Nebula in the constellation Scorpius, sometimes also called Lobster Nebula. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This image I have aquired during one of my trips up to the Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophoto setup.
Link: Full Res Image War Nebula annotated with B-V star colors
Link: Full Res ImageWar Nebula
13x600s Ha3nm + 21x180s RGB and 5.3h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.
Sculptor Galaxy NGC253 and the globular cluster NGC288. Image taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This image I have aquired during one of my trips up to the Roque de Los Muchachos with my mobile astrophoto setup. In an altitude of 2000m a.s.l. I found a decent observation location at the so called Pista de Gallegos, a small road that turns north from the LP-4 near the Roque de Los Muchachos. Observing conditions that night were quite good, with no wind and temperatures around 7°C. The Calima weather phenomenon was over, but the seeing conditions had not fully stabilized yet.
Link: Full Res Image Sculptor Galaxy annotated with B-V star colors
Link: Full Res Image Sculptor Galaxy
35x360s Clear + 14x180s RGB and 5.6h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: Roque de Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2000 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 2.
Messier 7 in the constellation Scorpius, the southernmost object in Charles Messier's catalog. The image was taken from the island of La Palma, Spain. This is one of the images I took during my vacation in 2022 at a rented finca in the town of Puntagorda in the northwestern part of the small island of La Palma. Due to the southern latitude of La Palma, M7 was high enough above the horizon for a successful photo. The small town of Puntagorda provided astonishingly a quite dark sky, much darker than any location back home in Germany. My rented Finca was located near Puntagorda in the middle of a Pine tree forest and with a wonderful view to the Atlantic Ocean. Visibility was absolutely miserable these days due to the so-called Calima weather phenomenon. This happens when the usual north-east trade wind is replaced by hot winds from the south or the Sahara. Increasing high clouds, boisterous wind and great air turbulence made observation and photography a bit difficult for me during this time. Therefore the stars are somewhat bloated.
16x180s RGB and 2.4h total integration time. TMB 115/805 Triplet APO with M82 Riccardi Reducer@ 600mm f5.25. ASI6200MM Pro Full Frame 60Mpix camera and Baader 2" Filter + Baader M68 Tilter. 10micron GM1000HPS mount and 10micron Aries Tripod. Guiding with the ASI120mini and a 50mm Guidescope. N.I.N.A. Astro Imaging Suite and PHD Guiding with the hp Elitebook 830 G5. Location: City of Puntagorda, La Palma, Canary Islands, 600 m a.s.l. and Bortle Class 3.