12 replies to this topic

[BlueWolfMoon]

A massive salt flat located in southwest Bolivia, zero light pollution, and a BONUS: After a rainfall, the salt flat turns into a giant mirror and reflects the entire night sky.

I would love to visit there someday, has anybody ever been there?

 

 

Image source link:

https://uyunisaltfla...ing-and-sunrise

 

 

 

[Jim Waters]

I agree.  Fantastic place for stargazing...  

[Jay_Reynolds_Freeman]

Double-plus wow ...

[MEE]

I wonder if the reflective nature of the salt is similar to snow: the starlight reflects back into the sky and makes the sky less dark.

Although transparency likely plays the biggest role.

[Sketcher]

I wonder if the reflective nature of the salt is similar to snow: the starlight reflects back into the sky and makes the sky less dark.

I've done a great deal of observing from seriously dark skies with and without snow on the ground.  In my experience, (being far from lights) the presence of snow on the ground doesn't affect the sky darkness enough to matter.

 

Case in point:  That sketch of B33, IC-434, and NGC-2023 that I've often posted to CloudyNights threads was not only made with a 130mm telescope without making use of any filters, but that observation was made on a night when my surroundings were covered with a fresh blanket of snow.

 

Add city lights and yes, the sky can become noticeably brighter with snow on the ground.  Without lights, the difference will be insignificant:

 

This observation:

 

Using this telescope -- without any filters:

 

With snow on the ground:

[scottinash]

What a wonderful image/location, BlueWolfMoon!  My son and I stood on the banks of Yellowstone Lake, WY several years ago and an image "slightly" similar to the one you share is burned into my memory forever.   On the night I recall, there was zero wind, the sky was as pristine as I have ever seen before, and the Milky Way along with what looked like millions of stars were being reflected off the smooth lake surface giving an almost 360 floating in space feeling.

Edited by scottinash, 13 March 2025 - 10:14 PM.

[RazvanUnderStars]

I've been there about a dozen years ago, as part of a longer trip through the country. It's definitely a highlight. I stayed overnight as well in a small salt hotel (which is what it sounds like, a small building made of salt blocks, with salt chairs and tables). There are many organized tours. 

I'd advise going during the dry months. While the water on the salt looks beautiful in pictures, it's, well, water with a lot of dissolved salt. So you need fishing boots to walk around; tripod legs will not be happy either.

For astronomy:

• protect your eyes during the day, the white salt is as blinding as snow
• due to its altitude (~3600m), there's less oxygen. Some people feel it (it's a lottery, really, unrelated to fitness level) so put rest in the schedule.
• the sky is astounding

Razvan

[sevenofnine]

That photo is fantastic!   The closest I got to seeing something like that was on a High Sierra backpacking trip. The lake where we camped was dead calm one night and the water formed a perfect reflection of the stars and a New Moon...great memory! 

[triplemon]

A massive salt flat located in southwest Bolivia, zero light pollution, and a BONUS: After a rainfall, the salt flat turns into a giant mirror and reflects the entire night sky.

I would love to visit there someday, has anybody ever been there?

I wouldn't want to be there with sensitive optical equipment, neither during, shortly after or long after that rainfall.

The first is obvious, the second is a mud bath. If you have kids or dogs, ask them what is good about that. The last is a dust bath blowing the nastiest corrosive and abrasive things into the places you will want to have them the least. So thanks, but nope.

 

You can also have pretty much the same in Death Valley, Bonneville Flats or even the Alvord dry lake here in eastern Oregon. All these places are also Bortle 1.

https://earthsky.org...48876494639.jpg

Edited by triplemon, 14 March 2025 - 06:17 PM.

[skysurfer]

Salar de Uyuni : I was not actually there, but in 1989 I traveled by train through it from Argentina to Oruro. Train windows had to be closed because of the salt seeping through windows. The image is amazing !

Best place on Earth ?

To name a few: Howland/Baker Island, very remote in the center of the Pacific close to the equator and despite its location the climate there is not too cloudy, but inaccessible (no airport, only an abandoned WW2 miltary airport).

Atacama Desert, ranging from worlds largest telescope (Cerro Armazones) to Chajnantor (ALMA, the soul of the Atacama, 5000m altitude). There are more salt flats in this region.

Northern Territory or Western Australia.

Namibia (Sossusvlei).

[RalphMeisterTigerMan]

I believe many places in South America would be good for observing, Chile and the Atacama Desert would be phenominal. But Boliva, are you kidding? That's were "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" were murdered by the Bolivian Army. Now if you were to overlook all the bad stuff they did, they weren't really that bad of guys.

 

LOL!

 

Clear skies and keep looking up!

RalphMeisterTigerMan

[Tony Flanders]

Atacama Desert, ranging from worlds largest telescope (Cerro Armazones) to Chajnantor (ALMA, the soul of the Atacama, 5000m altitude). There are more salt flats in this region.

From a geographical perspective, Salar de Uyuni might as well be in the Atacama. They're both in the Altiplano, but Atacama is the name given to the part that happens to be on the south side of the arbitrary Bolivia/Chile border.

Chajnantor is very close to the Argentina/Chile/Bolivia triple point. I went very close to it on the bus from Salta to San Pedro -- possibly the highest I've ever been in my life.

I'm not sure anywhere above 3,000 meters can really qualify as "best astro spot in the world," because even after long adaptation, your eyes and brain don't work at 100% efficiency at such altitudes.

[Sebastian_Sajaroff]

I spent many months working in Bolivia while I was living in Argentina, my birth country.

 

The sky is just amazing, hard to describe in words.

The only negative point was altitude and its side effects.

 

#1 Temperature. It's very cold, summer noon is 10C / 50F, and nights fall below -10C / 14F.

 

#2 Dryness. Bring some cream to protect your skin from a 15%-25% humidity environment.

 

#3 UV. Sunscreen is a must, unless you plan to sleep during daytime and observe all night (not a bad idea)

 

#4 Altitude sickness. I had strong headaches and nausea for the first 2-3 days.

Locals may offer you coca tea or to chew raw coca leaves, accept them. Helps a lot with "apunamiento" (altitude sickness).

Move slowly, don't run. You will feel exhausted after a few seconds.

 

It's true there's a lot of dust floating around, but it's still a great place for observation.

 

If you're unsure about altitude, go to lower sites like Cochabamba, Sucre or Samaipata.

Sucre is at 2800 m (9000 ft), Cochabamba at 2500m (8000 ft) and Samaipata at 1700 m (5000 ft).

Samaipata is warmer and more humid (sadly, there are some mosquitoes).

Of course, don't observe from the cities themselves, just drive 1-2 hours and you'll be under amazing skies.

 

Socially speaking, I wouldn't qualify the Bolivian Andes as a dangerous place.

Mountains isolation and harsh conditions are dangerous, not the locals themselves.

 

Bolivians are friendly and respectful as long as you don't rush them.

Go with the flow, don't lose your temper and good manners.

Transportation is precarious, don't be surprised if your local plane or bus are delayed 24 hours.

So, don't visit the area under a tight schedule, keep a couple of "buffer" days for unexpected delays.

 

Obviously, medium-level Spanish skills help.

If you don't speak Spanish, just bring your cell with Google Translator and download the offline Spanish dictionary.