5 Stunning Timelapse Videos Show the World at Night in Motion

A view of Mt. Kilimanjaro at night. Credit and copyright: Babak Tafreshi.

Award-winning photographer Babak Tafreshi from The World At Night (TWAN) has been traveling the world to captures nightscapes in various locations. He has shared five beautiful timelapse videos of night sky landscapes “from locations that never been filmed like this before,” he said.

The first video, “Lake of Fire at Night” shows the gorgeous view of the Milky Way above Lagoa do Fogo, a volcanic crater lake in the Sao Miguel island of Portugal, Azores, on the Atlantic Ocean.

Kilimanjaro at Night

Here, travel to Mount Kilimanjaro and view it under the starry skies of Amboseli. You’ll see the Magellanic Clouds and fast-passing satelites, along with African wildlife.



Stars Above Himalayas

See the stars above the roof of the world. Mt Everest and other Himalayan peaks in the World Heritage Sagarmatha National Park of Nepal appear in this nightscape timelapse clip.


Santorini by Night

Santorini, Greece is lovely by day. And at night, the island is filled with lights, limiting the night sky view. But here you can see rare views of the starry sky above the island during a major blackout.


Magic Telescopes

The MAGIC telescopes, located near the mountain top of the Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary island of La Palma, are part of a highly sensitive gamma ray observatory, with giant 17 meter wide dishes. The multi-mirrored telescope pair observes gamma rays indirectly by detecting brief flashes of optical light, called Cherenkov light. See them here with the beautiful night sky above and clouds below.

See more of Tafreshi’s videos on Vimeo and more photos and information at his website.

Stunning Astrophotos: Kilimanjaro at Night

At the break of dawn the southern Milky Way is photographed over Mount Kilimanjaro, as seen from Amboseli National Park, Kenya. The Great Carina Nebula is the red cloud at top. Constellation Crux or the Southern Cross appear on the left. On the Earth is the second peak of Mount Kilimanjaro reaching 5149 m high, known as Mawenzi (meaning the moon in Swahili). Credit and copyright: Babak A. Tafreshi.

You might find yourself humming Paul Simon’s “Under African Skies” after seeing these stunning images! The World At Night photographer Babak Tafreshi has just returned from a trip to Kenya and has amassed a gorgeous collection of astrophotography showing Mt. Kilimanjaro by night (and some in the day, as well). Below you can see a panoramic view of Kilimanjaro in the moonlight, flanked by giraffes (can you spot the zebra, too?) and starry skies.

“His path was marked by the stars in the southern hemisphere
and he walked his days under African skies…”

 Giraffes and acacia trees against the spectacular moonlit backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro, as seen from Amboseli National Park, Kenya. The head of a zebra is also visible on the left. The main peak of Kilimanjaro is Kibo that reaches 5,895 m (19,341 ft). The smaller peak is Mawenzi at 5,149 m (16,893 ft) and meaning the moon in Swahili. Credit and copyright: Babak A. Tafreshi.
Giraffes and acacia trees against the spectacular moonlit backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro, as seen from Amboseli National Park, Kenya. The head of a zebra is also visible on the left. The main peak of Kilimanjaro is Kibo that reaches 5,895 m (19,341 ft). The smaller peak is Mawenzi at 5,149 m (16,893 ft) and meaning the moon in Swahili. Credit and copyright: Babak A. Tafreshi.

See more great images from Babak’s trip at the Dream Views website here.

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Astrophoto: Deep Sky Treasury

The view of the Paranal Observatory: Credit: ESO/Babak Tafreshi

A new image captures the stunning view of the night sky over ESO’s Paranal Observatory, with a treasury of deep-sky objects. The image was taken by Babak Tafreshi, an astronomer, journalist and director of The World at Night (TWAN).

It shows the Carina Nebula, glowing intensely red in the middle of the image. Below Carina is the the Wishing Well Cluster (NGC 3532); then to the right is the Lambda Centauri Nebula (IC 2944) – which is also called the Running Chicken Nebula. Above this nebula and slightly to the left is the Southern Pleiades (IC 2632), an open cluster of stars that is similar to its more familiar northern namesake.

In the foreground, is three of the four Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI).

See more information about this image from ESO.

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