The Unbelievable Landscape Of Chile's Atacama Desert | The Borderless Sky

[Music] when nightfalls they come into their own astrophotographers portray the night sky in spectacular images with their cameras they show Celestial phenomena in a way never seen before on Voyages of Adventure over five continents let's have a closer look today [Music] Chile we follow Bobak to freshy to dizzying altitudes to explore the fascinating night sky of the planet's southern [Music] hemisphere [Music] at home in Boston Massachusetts Baka freshy prepares for a trip to one of the highest observatories in the [Music] world the Elmer Observatory sits in the Chilean Andes at a height of 5,000 [Music] M over the next two weeks his expedition will take him to the atakama desert where he plans to take time-lapse shots of the night sky shots that are only possible thanks to the unique conditions in this part of the [Music] planet [Music] our route starts at larena on the Chilean Coast it's late April and while spring is slowly unfolding throughout the Northern Hemisphere here in Chile summer is drawing to a close larena is Chile's second oldest city and the gateway to the southern part of the atakama desert which stretches over some 1,000 kilm of Northern Chile outside the polar regions it is the most arid desert in the world tomorrow Bobak teshy will head into the Wilderness but first he must run through his equipment one last time the most important is an equipment that can fit in my backpack so to me Mobility is the ultimum priority so I like to be very mobile compact therefore I even buy stuff sometimes based on their size and if they can be fit in my backpack unlike many of his colleagues Bach only needs two or three cameras with lightweight tripods plus some compact specialist astronomy equipment to get the images he has in mind he prefers to rely on his intuition rather than overblown technology the next morning boback is collected by car oh sorry I don't speak Spanish no espan okay over the next few days Carlos varas will accompany Bobak on his journey towards the Argentine border their first stop about 70 km east of larena is the V de elki a valley in the foothills of the Andes this fertile region in the middle of the desert is one of Chile's key fruit producing regions the Eli Valley is famous for its grapes which are either exported or like here made into Pisco at one of the countless local distilleries after distilling this Brandy likee schnaps is stored in wooden cks like whiskey before being bottled Pisco is one of Chile's favorite favorite drinks and is served in many variations throughout the [Music] country the journey takes us along the rout deas estas the rout of the Stars Bobak wants to spend the night here in the elki valley in a very special hotel designed especially for stargazers like him most people nighttime environment is time to relax to go to parties to restaurants for me nighttime is the time to connect with nature as soon as he arrives boback sets up his cameras for the first time-lapse shots of his trip I have friends all over the world I'm usually good in making friends I travel a lot but my best friends since teenag time was the niest [Music] guy and this friend is very Dynamic with Changing Faces every night so it's not only you know screen of fixed constellations [Music] tonight an almost full moon shines over the mountains thanks to the highly sensitive senses of Bobak's cameras the shots look like they were taken in sunlight this is because unlike the human eye the cameras can distinguish between colors at night here though the large majority of stars in the sky are visible with the human eye this makes the El key Valley a favorite destination for passionate amateur astronomers who are now C for by a very specialist branch of the tourist [Music] industry the next morning they slowly start climbing again up from the El ke Valley that already sits at about 1,300 m above sea level their destination is the lassia observatory enthroned at 2,400 M on the saddle of the lassia mountain are the observatory's telescopes that a pan European Institute built here in the 1960s the ideal conditions provided by the atakama desert now attract astronomers from around the [Music] world I got really interested in the night the sky when I borrowed my neighbors small telescope in early '90s in teron the capital of [Music] Iran and the first look to the moon really touched me so deeply that uh almost changed my entire life [Music] and soon after I realize in order to see things other than the moon I need to go outside of the city and to find remote locations where the natural star sky is still [Music] preserved the dryness of the desert and the height of the mountain Summit allow astronomers in the southern hemisphere to observe the night sky throughout the year at night as if by Magic the domed structures open their roofs to the skies and the astronomers direct their gaze deep into space scanning the sky for planets that might be home to life Bach spends many hours searching for the right spot for his cameras sometimes an hour is enough but often he photographs all night trying to capture the movement of celestial bodies on [Music] film [Music] the next morning sunlight bathes the telescopes in a magical light despite a long night of shooting boback is up early once [Music] more in general any type of photo photography is the perspective of the photographer to reality sometimes we alterate immensely for artistic reasons sometimes we frame it in a way that shows our [Music] message and sometimes we like to scan or document the nature as realistic as possible but the most important is that photography is usually an inspiration to viewers to experience for their [Music] own in good conditions by conservative estimates 3 to six thousand stars can be seen in the night sky with a naked eye all of them are part of our galaxy The Milky Way the heart of which lies across the Southern [Music] Hemisphere and certainly in some countries like in the afternoon bobac accompanies one of the scientists working here in the core of one of the telescopes researchers like Britain Daniel Evans come to Chile from all corners of the world to collect data for their projects what the properties are for the habitable zone but hopefully in the next few years as we get longer and longer searches we will start finding these planets further out from their stars in the past few years the highresolution optical telescopes of laia have helped astronomers discover several thousand new planets oh it's only in the last 20 years that we have known there are planets other than being eight in our own solar system so it's a very new field there are a lot of discoveries being made and also good for me there are many discoveries to make there are still many things we don't know that we are arguing about that we do not yet understand about planets I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers is watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription [Music] required at the end of his visit Bach watches the telescope in action later in the evening he explores the area around the observatory many places of the atakama desert are still perfectly dark at [Music] nighttime at the same time it's one of the driest plac faes on the planet you almost feel Walking on [Music] Mars to prevent light from street lights ruining these very special conditions a large radius around the observatory has been closed off due to the rapid spread of light pollution areas of complete darkness have now become a rarity on [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] Earth [Music] on his nocturnal wanderings bobach searches for traces of earlier inhabitants of the atakama desert he has heard there are a thousand-year-old stone drawings called petroglyphs near The [Music] Observatory soon he stumbles across a remarkable [Music] drawing this is probably the most complex petrog I've seen in this area and it has also some human elements a shaman uh some other people around a lot of you know overlay layered mysterious icons animals and probably things that might be related to to the sky including the maganic clouds which are obvious in the southern [Music] hemisphere I like to show the connection of this past Landmark with past time of the universe and with The Starlights that are arriving to us after traveling hundreds of years in a [Music] space the next day Carlos takes Bach back to the airport in La Serena It's Time to Say Goodbye hey caros gracias from here he Journeys further north to even higher and darker areas of the atakama desert the city of Kalama is significant largely due to its copper mine and its position on the way to the north Northeast of the country I might presume you must be bab you nice to meet you man waiting for Bobak in Kalama is Xavier Valdivia Xavier works as a mountain guide in the Andes and will be helping boback find the right motifs for his shots so you come from Iran yes that's a beautiful country that I didn't have any chance to visit but uh I heard that uh the friendly people are living there yeah we are famous for that but um not many people go to ran for tourism these days it was one of the most touristic countries in the past Kalama is located on a plateau at an altitude of about 2,500 M rising up on the horizon are the volcanoes of the Andes codera the expedition's Final Destination the area east of Kalama is famous for the colored mineral stone that gave this Valley its name vedel Alerus or Rainbow [Music] Valley here too early desert dwellers left their Mark in the Rock so how many uh petly pictures are actually here have you ever counted how many no no bobach has met up with Chilean archaeologist Ana Maria Baron to find out more about the origins of the drawings and their connection with the night sky we found more this Petroglyph panel is placed at a very special location overlooking all this pasture land here atas buas this is probably where the domestication of the Llama began the first thing we notice in cave paintings are depictions of Nature and quite clearly the idea behind this was to connect with a higher being something in the Hereafter because this is what gives us life we know life begins and ends but where does it go the picture suggests a relationship we might not be able to explain but one we can sense [Music] intuitively about 300 representations like this are said to be found in the vadel aleris archaeologists suspect that this Valley lay on the transit route used by Caravan of indigenous tribes on their way through the Andes a widely used Motif in the drawings of early desert dwellers is the Llama so important were these animals to human survival that they were worshiped almost as Gods gods that were also visible in the night sky interpret there is an ancient legend among the indigenous tribes of the atakama desert that HS of the galaxy of the llamas where a representation of the Llama is painted in the stars in the sky so there is obviously a link between the llamas and our lives because for these indigenous peoples llamas were a main source of food what gave them life the llamas connect life on Earth with the sky and the stars and this connection is expressed in the paintings since ancient times they have believed there is also a llama in the sky natives of the atakama desert recognized the figure of the llama in the dark sections of the Milky Way but the constellation is also significant for peoples of other continents in the southern hemisphere the Australian Aborigines for instance worship a very similar constellation that they see as a desert bird the Emu gazing up at the Milky Way has been part of life on our planet for thousands of years today 2/3 of humanity live in places where our galaxy is no longer visible due to light pollution I believe experiencing the f of the Milky Way in natural night to Sky just seeing it with your own eyes is something that every person this planet should experience it will be an everlasting memory in your [Music] mind tonight Bobak will sleep under the stars to acclimatize to the thin air that comes with being 3,000 m above sea level while bobach puts up his tent Xavier gets on with preparing their supper great night great night good great they did it well realized that there is no better way to reconnect with our origin to understand our position in the universe than exploring the night of [Music] Sky boback stays awake until the moon casts its Long Shadows and the valley is finally a blaze with [Music] light the next day they continue to San Pedro de [Music] atakama the desert village lies on the transit route that connects the Chilean Coast with the neighboring countries of Argentina and Bolivia the o basis is home to just under 2,000 people and attracts about 50,000 tourists per [Music] year the center of San Pedro with its typical Adobe architecture is a popular hub for visitors heading up and into the Andes in the afternoon a storm suddenly arrives thwarting boback's original plans for capturing the sky over San Pedro in a few well-chosen time-lapse Shots tonight is completely overcast and this is a storm in Desert Rain happens twice uh per year and we have one of them uh today uh but in on the other hand I was so exhausted after last night with the Petr Lea that um I took the opportunity to rest the next morning our route takes us to an area south of San Pedro in the desert sand of the tumbled down remains of old Adobe walls vestages of a settlement possibly dating back to the continent's precolonial [Music] days it was amidst these inhospitable desert conditions that Rivers created an oasis further south its water flows onto the atakama Salt [Music] Flats with an area of over 3,000 square km this is the third largest saline lake in the world there are vast underground mineral deposits here but at some of the lagoons the salt also creates a spectacular natural phenomenon at the surface too as I was traveling to remote areas Villages of Iran as a teenager to observe the night of Sky I became more and more interested in nature too so astronomy brought me to Nature since I was a teenager I started also hiking and climbing looking for darkest sky but at the same time natural um attractions at a neighboring Oasis not far from San Pedro is another of the Region's attractions the telescopes belong to the private Observatory of the French astronomer Alan Mori Al then great to see you again yeah long time how many years 2 years 2 years looks like 20 here no no it looks like two weeks it goes too fast so Al worked as a leading scientist at one of Chile's European observatories until he grew bored now he rents out telescopes to amateur astronomers around the world allowing them to use the internet to remotely control the optical instruments here and retrieve the photographs they take it's one of the oldest telescope we have here we have it since 2009 and uh so each night probably the 10 countries active here International Observatory yeah yeah so each night uh from your home you open all of them no no they do yeah they do okay I have a program [Music] here Al designed and built many of the telescopes himself before nightfalls and he has to start to work he and boback swap stories about their joint [Music] passion how many telescopes in total are here I have not counted between the ones which work the one which are stored the ones which I could finish uh about 30 it's a real telescope Farm you plant telescopes instead of trees yeah exactly well trees yeah take a lot of time we we grow a pepper tree about 8 years ago in it's like this you know so it's not a good place for trees and and plants but for telescope it's a good place of course the people coming to San Pedro are relatively high level people they are educated people who can travel and they are interested to look at the geology the volcanoes and so on and so on but they also know that the Yakama is the astronomical capital of the world and uh so they come here and they observe they discover I what I explained to people you know this is the normal Sky uh you have the Milky Way and everything and for most people it's not normal anymore they have not seen that in a long time to me at least it's a lot funnier and nicer to do this type of Outreach activity than to work in a professional Observatory where you work with computers and not with people uh nicer people [Music] too tonight it is not just the Milky Way that passes over Allah's Observatory a little while later the moon once more douses the sky with a gleaming light [Music] from here it is also possible to see the melanic clouds two small galaxies that neighbor the Milky Way and are hundreds of thousands of light years away from us at nightfall the telescopes in alah's astrop park come to to life many of his customers watched the sky for serious reasons as well as for fun visitors can learn something about the fascination of astronomy and come a little closer to the [Music] Stars even the craters of the Moon can be seen with a basic telescope [Music] the next morning bobach finally has time to really relax before continuing on his journey he checks his shots from the past few days as an astrophotographer Bobak puts his heart and soul into his passion for the night [Music] sky to better protect those few places on Earth that are still entirely dark he even founded an international astrophotography Network we all share the same Sky we all see the same window to the universe with some hours of [Music] difference that experience gave me the idea of how the night of sky has the unique potential of uniting [Music] cultures this realization prompted him to network with colleagues from around the globe now they run a joint platform the world at night through which they sell their pictures and recordings together they aim to remind people of the night sky Beauty and raise awareness of the dangers it is facing geologists believe that the atakama desert formed around 15 million years ago before that water covered its surface forming a bizarre landscape that is reminiscent of the moon or Mars from the vast expanse surrounding Sedro the next stage of their route takes them to the foot of the Andes to a height of 3,500 [Music] M here too the few veins of water are the only places where Lush vegetation [Music] flourishes [Music] [Applause] in the night ahead bobach is planning to make a characteristic desert Motif the protagonist of his time-lapse shots I arrive in places usually in daytime to scout around and see the potential of a place at nighttime I usually plan ahead of time sometimes few months in advance but sometimes just few minutes before the Imaging session when I look around and see my foregrounds [Music] to me night or night to Sky in a way is my second [Music] home but still when I'm alone out somewhere you know remote I have this mysterious sometimes terrifying moments [Music] the sudden fears of being alone at night with sounds of nature possibilities of encountering white animals or an stranger at night which is surprised by you and you're surprised by him these are all fears that come to you but in a cycle it can come and disappear because there are other feelings at the same time the feeling of capturing the beauty of night to Sky that moment and then sharing it with public [Music] later night is not only a dark unsafe environment it's something I call it dark Beauty night is something to explore to learn and to [Music] respect the following morning the trip nears its Grand Finale just before the Bolivian border is the alma Observatory home to one of the world's most important astronomy project The Observatory consists of a control center at an altitude of 3,000 M and a telescope at 5,000 [Music] m the EU USA Japan and other nations have joined forces to build the observatory over the past 15 years hoping to gain new insights into the origins of the universe bobc drops into the base station to meet an engine engineer who can take him on a tour of the high-tech [Music] Labs thank you for your time nice meeting you I heard you're also doing some astrophotography yes kind of an I was looking at your Facebook page pabloo is one of the Chilean team at the observatory unlike at laa the engineers and astronomers here work fulltime on what is special about Alma is that the observatory does not use optical telescopes but a network of 66 antenni whose data are then combined by a supercomputer to form one single signal here at the lab the state-of-the-art instruments are regularly taken apart for maintenance allowing the extremely delicate sensors to continually record the faintest radio wave waves in space so this is kind of 24hour all time observation that's the idea in the steady state station this is a with the Elma radio telescope the scientists can see into parts of the universe that were entirely unexplored until a few years ago well basically um what it Alma does is catch those very faint signals that come from outer space to make a beautiful image of what something that we cannot see with our eyes of course it's impossible to see with the optical telescope but Alma we can do it we can see molecules in the space we can see where sugar is we can see the alal was found really crazy thing that we are doing with this in the control room at the base station the scientists observe the data received by the radio telescope data that is not dependent on it being dark since radio waves can be received at any time day or night video cameras monitor the telescope's antenna on the 5,000 m High chantor Plateau before Bobak is allowed up there he has to undergo a health check the Swift Ascent from 3,000 to 5,000 m is a medical risk and only allowed for people in good health during the examination the oxygen content of his blood is measured revealing any signs of altitude [Music] sickness even during the drive up he has to check the oxygen levels in his blood his body has 45 minutes to a climatize to an Ascent of 2,000 M you [Music] know I'm coming up I'm at about kilom 41 in 15 minutes I'll be at the top and you can call please could you call me on 6630 6630 thanks everything is okay I don't know I don't know to be honest yeah there is any issue maybe the weather yeah so they're concerned about the Fast Wind and our safety is changing the weather so you can see the the clouds behind us it's so we might have some kind of sudden evacuation yeah maybe some restrictions in the hour the time let's [Music] see their fears are confirmed just a few MERS up a heavy snowstorm strikes jeopardizing boback's Expedition [Music] but he's lucky the altiplano is not evacuated and borach and His companion continue their Journey [Music] upwards just before nightfall they reached the chakor plateau this is not the first time borach has had to work at such altitudes nevertheless on arrival he feels weak and slightly queasy well it's actually a very cold night and this PL has a special microclimate it feels more in altitude so it's better to use the oxygen time to time just to keep uh the brain uh fresh you don't want to make any mistake of not being this uh sharp enough so let me do it the condition is quite unusual for Alma because the wind is very fast and uh storm is approaching there was another storm last night so this is a bit or more than a bit colder than usual the temperatures drop rapidly to -25° C despite the icy wind bobach sets up his cameras for some time-lapse sequences the antenna give him warning signals due to the storm it's a bit challenging I would say tonight I'm not sure what kind of content I can make uh but it's always like this you know astop photography happens at nighttime and with unusual and unexpected [Music] condition but Bobak doesn't give up but they killed my time lapse they always do that even when the security staff Drive acrosses filming with their headlights on first of all being on top of the uh world's observatories in a way because this is one of the worst highest it's such a great feeling that you forget about the uh freezing temperature when wind and issue with the lights uh at the same time some astrophotography is being at the right time in the right place sometimes you feel you're in the worst time in the worst [Music] place boback's stubbornness and his will to defy even the most ad conditions pay off he is rewarded with timelapse shots of unparalleled quality and [Music] perfection [Music] from this altitude he gets a unique view of Lian kabura an inactive volcano that rises to almost 6,000 M with its perfectly formed cone it is an unforgettable sight and woried by the indigenous population rising up at the Bolivian border is the altiplano a high plateau in the Andes that extends all the way to Peru on his journey bobach also meets herds of llama that are kept for their Wool by the [Music] indos he also encounters countless vicunas wild relative of the llamas that belong to the camel [Music] family the final leg of the journey ends at a lonely spot on the altiplano where two rivers [Music] converge this is where borach will spend his last night under the chil and night sky at this altitude the temperature Falls below -5 Before Sunrise yet another test for him and his [Music] equipment for me this ending point of the trip is most spectacular because we see the most star guy finally there is no absolutely no piece of cloud in the sky at the moment so completely blue and uh when it gets dark uh we will see one of the best night sky available on this planet [Music] tonight in the evening the altiplano landscape reveals its most beautiful side once more flamingos rest in the lagoons almost 4,500 M up tonight the waning moon will only appear in the sky for a short while then the sky will belong to the Stars alone [Music] for the last time on this trip the Milky Way Rises over the Andes not a single source of artificial light disturbs this view of the firmament a view that has been seen for thousands of years is here as far back as to the early dwellers of the atakama [Music] desert thanks to his tireless work this is a treasure bobc can preserve for posterity sharing it with people all around the [Music] globe [Music] [Music]

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 10,686

Keywords: Adventure Seekers' Paradise, Astrophotography Adventures, Cultural Immersion, Discover Chile, Specialist Camera Equipment, Thrilling Discoveries, Travel the World, Unique Vantage Points, bucket list destinations, documentary films, dream travel destinations, extreme environments, group travel documentaries, immersive experiences, journey to the stars, night time photography, remote locations, solo travel experiences, solo travel explorations, world cultures

Id: 0KQ2-2aAGjw

Length: 51min 43sec (3103 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 04 2024