Astrophotography in Morocco: Dark Skies in the High Atlas and the Sahara

Morocco gives you two very different kinds of dark sky within a day’s travel of each other: high mountain air in the Atlas, and the open horizon of the Sahara on the far side of the range. Both are a long way from the bright coastal cities of Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier.

There is no DarkSky International certified place in Morocco yet. There is a university observatory in the High Atlas that professional teams chose for its sky, and that is the best guide to where the good air is.

Oukaïmeden, High Atlas

The Oukaïmeden Observatory, operated by Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech, stands at about 2,750 metres, roughly 50 km south of Marrakech. It hosts TRAPPIST-North, a robotic telescope run with the University of Liège, whose team reports about 250 clear nights a year there.

Oukaïmeden is also a ski resort, so expect snow and hard frost in winter, and dress for a night far colder than Marrakech.

Suits: planetary and lunar imaging, and deep-sky work within an evening’s drive of Marrakech.

Merzouga and the dunes of Erg Chebbi

On the eastern side of the Atlas, the dunes near Merzouga are a common base for desert camps. Away from the camp lights, the sky opens to the horizon in every direction, which is what you want for wide Milky Way panoramas and the zodiacal light after dusk.

Desert camps light their tents and paths. Ask before you book whether you can walk a few hundred metres away from the lights, or bring a red torch and do so.

Suits: wide-field nightscapes with dunes in the foreground.

Zagora and the Drâa valley

South of Ouarzazate, the Drâa valley runs down toward Zagora and the desert beyond. It is a quieter alternative to Merzouga for people coming from Marrakech over the Atlas.

Wind and dust are the practical problems in the desert. A calm night after a windy day can still carry haze, so check the forecast for dust as well as cloud.

Suits: a desert night on a route that starts in Marrakech.

When to go

Autumn, winter and spring nights are long and the desert is pleasant after dark; summer is very hot by day. The galactic core is best from late spring to early autumn, when it sits low in the south from Moroccan latitudes, so the summer months still have something to offer if you go to altitude.

What to shoot from Morocco

At about 30 degrees north, Morocco sees almost the whole northern sky and a good slice of the southern one. Omega Centauri and the tail of Scorpius clear the horizon in spring and summer, objects that most of Europe never sees well. The Orion Nebula, the Pleiades, Andromeda and the winter Milky Way are all high in the long winter nights.

Processing what you bring home

Akastroid stacks and finishes your frames on your own computer, which suits a trip where the riad’s internet may be slow and a desert camp may have none. The free download processes three sessions and allows one export, enough to see what one desert night gives you. If you buy a licence later, PayPal works for paying from Morocco, with a PayPal account or a debit or credit card.

For planetary work from Oukaïmeden, see how many frames to keep for planetary stacking, and for the Moon, photographing the Moon.