Best spots you have ever been to

Manua Kea (Visitor Center) in the 80's, a couple of locations high in the Western Alps in the late 90s and an island off the coast of Sardinia in 00's. I only imaged in the last location and it was brilliant.

La Palma Island in Spain back in summer 2018, stargazing atop Roque de Los Muchachos which is about 2'300 m. high. Such a beautiful location and amazing sky! Would love to go there again ;-)

Christophe

The best location I ever went to was:

I was an army cadet on an escape and evasion exercise in Germany.  We were dropped off in the middle of nowhere and were expected to find our way back to safety.  I was only about 14 years old, but we made our way through streams, mountains, fields etc. in pitch darkness.  At one point we took a rest at probably 3 or 4 am and just lay on our backs in this field … the sky was pitch black, the milky way was glorious and we were greeted by the most amazing display of a meteor shower.  I'm now well into my 60s, but remember that night like it was yesterday.   I think I might just go outside right now and lie down and look upwards ;)

In 2017 I was lucky enough to spend the summer holidays in the countryside of central Tuscany in Italy (red pin on the map). I was amazed by the quality of the night sky and it turned out that by simple luck I was in one of the darkest areas of the entire Italy (according to  World Atlas 2015 light pollution survey). There I took my best and only pictures of the milky way so far. It turned out I was in a Bortle 4 location, which compared to my usual suburban sky in Manchester was absolutely breath taking!

Milky way from southern Tuscany


The Plough with Arturus


Cassiopea, Andromeda and Double Cluster with the Northern Milky Way

For me, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.  A bortle 1 sky, and classified as a Dark Sky Sanctuary.  During the day, you are camping on lakes, rarely seeing other people outside of your group (especially if you portage in a few lakes from the entry points), and 0 technology outside of cookers and cameras (there was 0 cell service).  The beauty of exploring the areas around you and seeing different wildlife, or if you're near one of the few waterfalls.  I have amazing experiences and stories with these topics, but this post is about AP

I started AP in May of this year, and in October I brought up my Skyguider Pro, TPO 180 and Camera to photograph the BWCA, which also, were moonless nights.  It was an amazing experience, as many of you know, the Milkyway just stands out.  And Andromeda, just begging to be photographed.  

The image below was one 60 second exposure at ISO 3200 during this trip.

Milkyway over Alton Lake MN

We stayed on the southside of a peninsula located about halfway in the middle of the west bank of the lake

I cannot wait to go back in 2022!!

-Chase

Ha ha … I suddenly remembered another night.  I was on holiday with my girlfriend in the Caribbean and we'd had a major argument.  She kicked me out of the room and I ended up sitting on a rock at the end of a pier in Antigua. it was 1am and I spent a couple of hours looking up at the crystal clear sky and contemplating things.  I ended up proposing to her the next day and have spent the past 30 years with her. That sky has a lot to answer for … in a nice way of course.