Going to Tenerife (any tips)

[Tom_m7117]

Hi Guys,

Im going to tenerife on saturday and was hoping to get up mount teide at night and see a truly dark sky. Has anyone been before and have any suggestions on where to go up there and if anywhere is ok up there. Im going to be driving up there so can get to pretty much anywhere and was wondering if the area around the cable car to the top would be any good.

Any input would be amazing.

Thanks

[Zakalwe]

Im going in May, so post your result, please.

I have a Skymemo that I might bring with me and see if i can have a bash at imaging with a DSLR

[laser_jock99]

There's a few car parks up there, we camped up by the Los Roques area. You could get some nice images there.

[JamesC]

Sounds like you are along the right lines. There are plenty of miradores where you can park up and take a view. I liked one near the cable car station. It is an amazing location to do astronomy from because it feels like you are in a crater on an alien planet or something. Thinking back on it I don't know why I didn't try the parking for the cable car station, perhaps there was a reason or perhaps I was just shy. Anyhow if you've got a car you're sorted. Annoyingly there is a bit of noticeable light pollution, but it's still an excellent location.

I hope you are taking some binoculars or something with you. I did see binoculars on sale there but they were all the ruby red 'night vision' coating type - i.e. rubbish. You would be better buying something you would like for the long term and taking it hand luggage. I crazily took my Starblast on an EQ1 mount!! I still can't quite believe I did that. These days I would probably take something like a Sumerian Optics scope or a small APO on a camera mount. Mind you the Starblast is darn good value for money.

Tenerife is really beautiful - I'm sure you'll love it. Hope you get a spot of walking in. Actually just driving around is amazing. I remember watching sunrise from a viewpoint on the TF-24 after a night's observing. The road along the ridge on the eastern part of the island is some piece of engineering.

This is a link to a thread I wrote 3 years ago!

http://stargazerslounge.com/observing-reports/83179-my-visit-tenerife.html

[Peter Drew]

I'm a frequent visitor to Tenerife but I've stayed only one night halfway up Teide, it gets pretty cold so you'll have to take some warm clothes with you. I'm more of a solar enthusiast these days so sea level has many benefits. As an aside, you can usually get a better exchange rate over there for your euros.

[kev]

Agree with the comments here, but also make sure that you have something to keep the scope in thats dust/sand proof. When a dust storm hits, as it does occasionally, it gets everywhere.

[pete_l]

Pretty much any of the carparks above the tree line will do. I'd avoid being too close to the cable car (and I wouldn't park in the CC carpark), as being near the summit will obscure your view of the sky. It's so transparent you can see down close to the horizon on a good night and it would be a shame to miss Omega Centauri because there's a mountain in the way. Be aware (I'm told) the patrols don't like people campling in the national park, so a few words of spanish to explain that you're not camping / cooking / dropping litter might help.

Some of the roads are quite narrow, steep and very twisty, so take it easy - they don't all have crash barriers between you and a 300 foot drop! (And the ones that do, you wouldn't want to test their strength ) Also, it's not unusual to get rockfalls during the night, so when you're coming down in the morning you could well be the first vehicle to use a particular road, so be on the lookout.

[Qualia]

In general, at this time of year, due to the clouds, the south will probably offer you the promise of better viewing.

If that turns out to be the case, or if La Teide becomes a little too tricky to climb or bit of a let down due to nocturnal clouds - these times of year, alas - may I suggest the following as also great sites to view from: Pico Ingles, Los Gigantes, Puerto de la Cruz, Icot de Los Vinos, and the Valle de La Orotava. These are certainly places worthy of your time and amplify your possibilities over your holiday period.

You might want to check out this link: El Cielo de Canarias / Canary sky - Tenerife on Vimeo

And if you get the chance, write to Daniel Lopez and see if he can give you some tips on where also to view from and if you fancied, how to arrange a day visit (night time will be impossible) to el Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias: algo sobre mi

Finally, it may also be worth your time to check out places like these:

http://www.webtenerife.com/actividades/en-la-naturaleza/empresas-de-actividades-en-la-naturaleza/observacion+de+las+estrellas.htm

http://www.webtenerife.com/actividades/en-la-naturaleza/empresas-de-actividades-en-la-naturaleza/teide-astro+volcanes+y+estrellas.htm

You can arrange, for a fee, I have no idea the price, night time observations with a telescope which might be quite nice as part of your holiday experience.

¡¡ Felices Vacaciones !!

Oh and finally, scroll down to about the twentieth post here: http://www.astronomo.org/foro/index.php?topic=5514.0 and find the small map offered by Sevi. The blackened rings shows you the best areas to view from, the red are the areas you should avoid.

Hope this helps...

[Qualia]

The post came up twice, could someone kindly remove this post?

I apologise for the trouble.

[laser_jock99]

If you are feeling both fit & adventurous you could walk up the summit path and stay the night in the Refugio Alta Vista. The views from there at night must be truely stunning as it is only 800m from the sumit

Book a night here:

Altavista Refuge | Teleférico

Seems to have been upgraded since I went there in 1990's- just how clear & deep blue that sky is!!