By Federico Arribas
“...Just then, the evil Guayota kidnapped the sun`s god Magec, and took him with him to the interior of the volcano Teide, plunging everybody into a total darkness. It is when the guanches asked for clemency to Achamán, - their supreme god - where, after a fierce fight, Achamán managed to defeat Guayota, took Magec out of Echeyde's entrails, and plug the crater with Guayota inside…”
From Guanche mythological culture.
Last September I went to visit my good friend Rómulo Márquez to Tenerife answering to a very kind invitation on his part. Among the many things we planned to do in the excitement of the occasion, we included more than one observational night to take pictures, as Tenerife’s El Teide volcano location is regarded as having one of the darkest and clearest skies in the world. He also planned for a visit to La Palma, also known as Isla Bonita by the locals, one of the 3 out of eight islands he hadn’t already visited. Both places are home of several local and international observatories we wanted to visit. Of our big observational plans, which included a Messier Marathon promoted by IAC for Saturday 19 on La Palma, we were able to complete only that Saturday night of astrophotography and observation in La Palma, ending up being one big success and producing our very first more-than-decent set of deep sky images ever, against all odds. This is the story of that night and its outcome.
