Night Skies of the Himalaya

Deepak Bhimani

The Milky Way rising in a distant valley with the Indus river flowing (exposure of 25 seconds at ISO 1600 with Nikon D 810 A camera with a wide angle lens)

Himalaya for me is Heaven on Earth. You want to take one more shot at it even though you have taken few dozens. And when night falls at that heavenly height, you see the other Heaven above, with a clarity that you cannot see in your day to day life.

An early morning brilliant sun lighting the top snow peaks. This brilliance overshadows the faint stars nearby

Milky way on the top from Ladakh, with more than billion stars. Our sun and its solar system together with billion other suns

Nanda Kot (ISO 1600 exposure for about 30 seconds with a wide angle lens; Nikon D 850 on a tripod)

Maiktoli with the splendour of stars at about 10:30 p.m.—a moonless night (ISO 1600, exposure for 25 seconds with Nikon D850 on a tripod with a wide angle lens)

A six day old moon showing beautiful crators (DSLR Nikon 850 on a tripod)

Full moon rising behind coniferous trees on a distant hill near Kolahoi glacier. (Nikon D 810 with a 500 mm Telephoto lens)

A clear sky over Ladakh about 50 miles from Leh. The Orion constellation is clearly visible

The Milky Way captured on a dark Himalayan night (1600 ISO and F/2.8 with a wide angle lens at 14 mm. Exposure was made for 30 seconds with a tracking device mounted on a tripod)

About the Author

Born and brought up in Mumbai with a B.S. and M.S. from Lowell Technological Institute, Massachusetts, DEEPAK BHIMANI developed a passion for travel, photography and astronomy in his childhood. His travels in particular chasing total solar eclipses, has taken him from Antarctica to middle of the great Sahara desert.

Deepak Bhimani is the CMD of Navdeep Chemicals (P) Ltd. He is a trustee of various educational institutions and treasurer of The Himalayan Club.

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