Vuelo Nocturno: Meet the Milky Way

May 2, 2017 12:22 AM

"Just as the bright city lights are vanishing behind us, the Milky way starts to become clearly visible up ahead. Its now us, pacing at almost the speed of sound along the invisible highway and the pitch-black night sky above this surreal landscape. Ahead of us are another eight hours flight time, but we already stopped counting the shooting stars. And we got already to a few hundred." -Beyond Clouds
posted by Eyebrows McGee (9 comments total)

Wow! My gosh that is beautiful. Growing up in a small town it was very easy to escape the lights and see the nighttime sky in all its splendour. I miss that.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 4:28 AM on May 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Damn if sony alpha-7 cameras equipped with 35mm 1.4 lenses aren't amazing toys for video.....
posted by lalochezia at 5:13 AM on May 2, 2017

This is stunningly beautiful! What a great discovery - it combines my love of all things astronomical, and my love of planes. Thank you for posting!
posted by racersix6 at 8:31 AM on May 2, 2017

Wow, that was beautiful.

I'm guessing the moments where it seems like someone knocked the camera over are actually the plane adjusting course?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:57 AM on May 2, 2017

I love the way other planes zip by, and I think there's a shooting star. I am so envious of the pilot.
posted by theora55 at 9:48 AM on May 2, 2017

I was wondering if planes could ever have transparent ceilings--it would make long flights much less stressful--and wow, whaddya know.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 10:08 AM on May 2, 2017

Very nice. If you're ever out in New Mexico, I recommend driving half an hour or so away from the interstates on a clear dark night for an unforgettable view of the sky. Vertigo inducing, as you lie there on the warm hood and stare into the deep.
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:50 PM on May 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

"I'm guessing the moments where it seems like someone knocked the camera over are actually the plane adjusting course?"

Yeah, if you watch it a second time you can see they're flying through crowded European airspace at the beginning and are banking to a new course when they do that, usually just past a big city's airspace. I assume the through flight lanes go around in a lot of places so planes can stack up waiting to land. Plus also probably the Alps and weather. Once they get over the Sahara and the Atlantic the paths are quite straight and you see lots of planes in a line ... Probably very clear flight paths without a lot of variation in terrain or weather and with no cities to go around.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:07 PM on May 2, 2017

There's very little "holding" (aviation-speak for "stacking up waiting to land") any more -- if the destination airport is backing up (for whatever reason) then departures are blocked, and any enroute aircraft reduce their speed. Besides the sky is big, and controllers can have airplanes hold at any random point they choose....

Long-distance air-routes today are pretty much all straight lines (actually great circles).
posted by phliar at 2:30 PM on May 5, 2017