Night view from the summit of Pachnes - 10th of August 2010
Night view from the summit of Pachnes (looking north)
Night view from the summit of Pachnes (looking south-east)
A few days ago I mentioned the lack of light pollution at night in the White Mountains. Of course if you happen to be on the higher summits such as here on Pachnes you can see towards the coast and do not get complete darkness.
The top image shows the North coast.
The visible lights are probably the resorts of Platanias and Agia Marina with the strong reflection in the clouds coming from Chania.
The second image is showing far less light because the lens is pointed towards the South-East which has smaller towns. I guess that the visible lights come from Plakias (it could also be Frangokastello, I just don't know for sure) and the diffuse light further away is reflected light from the large towns of Tymbaki and Mires.
Bear in mind that these are long exposure photos so the lights are not quite so strong in reality...but still quite visible
PS: before someone asks...there are two lines in the top photo. In this relatively small size it is not so easy to see what's what but when you see the original image you can recognize that the line in the lower part right of the photo is a blinking airplane (taking off from Chania airport). The line in the left of the photo is a small shooting star.
PPS:
The stars look a little unfocused. This is due to the length of the exposure (60 to 90 seconds). Anything abov e 2 minutes would start producing star trails
