Dazzling Timelapse: Canary Skies

By Nancy Atkinson - May 19, 2011 01:14 PM UTC | Observing

Tenerife, Canary Islands is home to several telescopes and at 2,000 meters above sea level, it claims one of the best skies on the planet. This incredibly stunning timelapse video from astrophotographer Daniel Lopez captures the nocturnal and crepuscular beauty of the island, showing the natural movement of the earth, stars, clouds, Sun and Moon. Lopez worked over a year to capture all possible shades and landscapes, pulling out all the stops by using several different timelapse techniques. Lopez promises more videos are coming, as he says this is the first in a series to capture the beauty of each of the Canary Islands.

Find more information at

Lopez's website,

and see more videos at

his Vimeo page.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com