Astrophotography in Qatar: Dark Skies at Khor Al Adaid and Zekreet

Where to see the Milky Way in Qatar

The best places to see the stars in Qatar are Khor Al Adaid, the Inland Sea in the south-east, and the Zekreet peninsula on the west coast, each about an hour from Doha. Winter nights are clearest; the Milky Way core is a summer target.

Doha is one of the brightest cities on the Gulf, and the glow reaches a long way out over a flat peninsula. Qatar is also small enough that the two dark corners of the country are each about an hour from the city.

Khor Al Adaid, the Inland Sea

In the far south-east, where the dunes run into a tidal inlet shared with Saudi Arabia, is Khor Al Adaid. It is a nature reserve, reached by four-wheel drive over sand, and the last of the city glow fades on the way down. The dunes give a foreground and the water gives reflections, and in summer the galactic core rises over the inlet.

Most people go with a tour operator, who handles the sand driving and the camp. If you drive yourself, go with a second car.

Suits: Milky Way over dunes and water, and overnight camps.

Zekreet and the Brouq reserve

On the west coast, the Zekreet peninsula is limestone outcrops, the old film-set village and Richard Serra’s East-West/West-East sculpture standing in the desert. The nearest large town is Dukhan, whose lights sit to the south, so the northern and western sky is the darker half. The rock formations make a strong foreground for a nightscape.

Suits: nightscapes with rock and sculpture in the frame.

Timing a night

Winter, from November to March, has the clear, cool nights. The humidity on the coast in summer is heavy and the haze with it takes the faint end of the sky away, so a summer core shot is best done inland and as late at night as you can manage. Dust is the other variable, and a calm afternoon is no promise of a calm night.

What to shoot from Qatar

From 25 degrees north the galactic core climbs high in the south in summer, higher than it does from anywhere in Europe. In winter the long nights have Orion overhead and the Andromeda Galaxy high in the north-west, and Omega Centauri clears the southern horizon in spring.

Processing what you bring home

Akastroid stacks and finishes your frames on your own computer, with nothing uploaded. Its gradient removal is built for exactly the slope the Doha glow puts across a frame. The free download processes five sessions and allows two exports, enough for one Khor Al Adaid night. If you buy a licence later, PayPal works for paying from Qatar, with a PayPal account or a debit or credit card.

Across the Middle East

The same guide for the rest of the region: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Israel.