A photo that could be called fantastic, taken by Marcin Rosadzinski, an astrophotographer, is causing a stir on the Internet, among many other photographs that dominate this world. Showing the top of Madeira, between night and dawn, at Pedra Rija, it lets us enter the solar system, more precisely the Via Lactea.
The image alone is worth more than these words, but the author himself explains how he arrived at this combination.
“I would like to present to you the last photo taken during a week-long stay in Madeira”, he begins by saying on his Instagram profile. “Each of my photos has an associated story that I would like to share with you this time.”
Thus, he explains, “what you see is a mosaic made up of 14 panels (7 sky panels and 7 foreground panels). The photo shows the arc of our galaxy, the Milky Way, over a rocky hill that appears suspended in the air”, he continues.
“So far, taking this photo has probably cost me the most effort, and I’m not just referring to the processing process, but mainly the physical effort”, he ironizes. “The place where I took this photo is Pedra Rija. One of the most beautiful viewpoints on the island, located on the difficult PR1 mountain trail between the two highest peaks on the island, Pico do Areeiro and Pico Ruivo. Just to get to this place It’s about 1.5 km. It doesn’t seem like much, but with a backpack weighing almost 10kg the perspective changes drastically and after a sleepless night, returning to the car park near Pico do Areeiro, where you only need to climb, was a breeze. really big challenge”, says Marcin Rosadzinski, Polish citizen.
“But what wouldn’t you do to get a good photo that I planned before I arrived in Madeira?”, he asks. “Upon arriving at the location around 3am, I set up the equipment and started working. It quickly turned out that the entire sky was covered in cirrus clouds that barely allowed starlight to pass through. I made a sequence of all the panels , but after a brief review of the photos, I decided it needed to be repeated because the clouds were very strong. The second time I had better luck and although there were clouds, I knew I would definitely get something out of it. Now I just need to get back to the car.” , continues to joke, before revealing that the photo was taken with a Cannon and other more technical specifications for those in the know.
The photo was published on his profile, but also on the profile of a Facebook group dedicated to candidate submissions for Astronomical Photo of the Day, called Sky and linked to NASA.