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When thinking about where to go on an astrophotography adventure, Kyrgyzstan is not a place that immediately springs to mind. But the sparsely populated country lends itself to beautiful dark skies and a rugged landscape just waiting to be explored.
Astrophotographer Soumyadeep Mukherjee embarked on an epic astronomical journey to this unexplored corner of the world with a group of like-minded people, to experience the beauty of Kyrgyzstan and its unspoiled dark skies.
“To say it was full of surprises would be an understatement,” Mukherjee told Space.com.
Mukherjee, who is based in Kolkata, India, started taking up astrophotography in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Later that year, Mukherjee co-founded Bangla Astrologersa group of four amateur astrophotographers working towards the promotion and pursuit of astrophotography in India with workshops, events, annual competitions and exhibitions.
“Kyrgyzstan was not the initial plan for this trip,” Mukherjee told Space.com in an email. “However, I came across a few things The Milky Way images captured from Kyrgyzstan and made the place interesting.”
Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. With a population of about 7 million people and an area of about 77,000 square meters (200,000 square km), the small country houses some of the dark skies on earth.
“After doing some research on this country, I found out that it was a paradise for astronomers,” explained Mukherjee. “At the same time, I found her beauty underrepresented, especially in the world of astrophotography.”
When the group arrived in Kyrgyzstan, they were greeted by a stunning landscape bursting with history, dark skies and rugged grandeur.
“While traveling across the country, I felt that I could camp in 100 places and still not be satisfied. The country, in every direction, is full of natural beauty.” Mukherjee said.
With the dark skies calling, Mukherjee’s team turned their attention to capturing some truly beautiful images of the night sky.
While it’s challenging to pick favourites, Mukherjee told us his top three from the trip were Tash Rabat and star trails, Yurts and the Milky Way and his image of the Milky Way behind the Yuri Gagarin statue. You can scroll through these three images in the gallery below.
The challenge of capturing Yuri Gagarin against the Milky Way
Capturing the image of Mukherjee’s Yuri Gagarin statue was extremely difficult, so we asked him to describe the story behind the photo.
Mukherjee: “Our plan was to stay one night in the Barskoon valley and capture the Milky Way in the background of the Yuri Gagarin statue located there.
“On our fourth day of the trip, we reached Barskoon valley but it was quite late in the evening and we didn’t get a chance to look around the place before our night session.
“When night fell, we had no idea where the statue was. At night, around 3 am, I and some of my friends decided to hit the road on foot and start looking for the statue. The map indicated that it was close but we were not able to find it.
“While returning, one of my friends indicated that he had seen the statue (it was right next to the property where we were staying). However, the site was fenced off and we came across a board stating ‘Military Area.’ I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have the photo But in the end we all jumped over the fence with all our imaging gear, found the statue and spent about 30 minutes taking a few images of the statue together with the Milky Way indeed the image was challenging and adventurous.”
Deep dive into astrophotography: Yurts and the Milky Way
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Sometimes it’s hard to understand how much work goes into just one of these amazing images so we asked Mukherjee to take us through the processes involved.
Mukherjee: “This image is a mix (sky and foreground captured from the same location). I used a Nikon Z6ii and a Sigma 50mm along with a Skyguider Pro, all on top of a Leofoto 364c + LH 40.
“First I captured the foreground with the star tracker turned off. I took three 120 second images (f/2.8, ISO 1600). Then I turned the tracker on and took three images for the sky part for 90 seconds each (f / 2.8, ISO 2000).
“To process these types of images, I go through the following workflow: stack the sky images in Sequator, process it with Pixinsight and Photoshop, stack the foreground (median stack) and process it with Photoshop, and finally blend the two images (sky and foreground) with Photoshop Although I usually take more than three images for the sky (usually 10-15) and the foreground (usually 5-7), this image was captured just before the jumper and I had to quit before the sky came. too bright.
Used equipment
Cameras: Nikon Z6ii, Nikon Zf and Nikon Z8
Lenses: Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8, Nikon Z 24mm f/1.8, Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art and Samyang 135mm f/2 (Nikon India kindly lent me the Nikon Zf. Nikon 14-24mm and Nikon 24mm)
Tripod: Leofoto 364c and 323c (kindly provided by Leofoto India) along with LH 40 ball heads.
Star simulator: iOptron Skyguider Pro plus William Optics base.
Post-processing: Sequator (for stacking), Pixinsight (for processing the sky parts) and Adobe Photoshop.
Mukherjee’s stunning photographs are a window into Kyrgyzstan’s stunning landscapes, blending dark, fresh skies with historic locations. The astrophotography trip was organized by Mukherjee’s team, Astronomads Bangla, and consisted of three mentors and 16 participants. Once in Kyrgyzstan, organized the travel Asia Tours.
Feeling inspired to take the leap into astrophotography but not sure where to start? Our instructions on the best cameras and best lenses for astrophotography is here to help you find the equipment you need. You can get some helpful hints and tips from our Astrophotography guide for beginners How to shoot the night sky.
