The Milky Way TVPUK
In Chile we accompany the Iranian Babak Tafreshi on a trip to the Atacama Desert. It is considered to be the driest desert on Earth outside the polar regions: the best place in the world to observe the starry sky of the southern hemisphere. Babak is a master of his subject. His pictures show the Milky Way in a breathtaking way, but also the moon and stars seem to dance elegantly over the sky tent in his pictures.
To the eclipse of the sun to Indonesia – In Indonesia the astronomer Gernot Meiser is hunting for the total solar eclipse. The search for the ideal vantage point for the fascinating natural phenomenon takes him across the island state. He witnesses a volcanic eruption, traverses the jungle, spice farms and tea plantations and finally lands on the Moluccas. Here, together with the local population, he experiences the unique heavenly phenomenon and captures it in spectacular pictures.
To the polar lights of Canada – Yuichi Takasaka has a dream. Since the Japanese-born astrophotographer read a book about northern Canada as a child, he has a picture that he wants to capture with his camera: the Aurora Borealis over the Arctic Ocean. Yuichi has undertaken many excursions around the world on the hunt for polar lights. Now he wants to fulfill his childhood dream: Travel through up the Yukon to Beaufort Lake on the northern edge of America.
The darkest night of Scandinavia – In Europe, the special challenge is to find a clear night sky without light pollution. The journey takes us to the far north of Scandinavia. The astrofotographer arrives at Europe’s largest dugout dune, Rabjerg Mile, and finally to the Polar region, where spectacular northern lights complement the view of a starry sky – as our ancestors had experienced thousands of years ago.
On the road to the Milky Way – In Australia, we travel with John Goldsmith deep into the West Australian Outback. His photographs show the sky of the southern hemisphere spectacularly in the footsteps of the Aborigines: hours pass by as if in flight, the rising full moon shines bright as the sun, the Milky Way moves as a luminous band over the landscape.
