Stargazing in the Atacama desert in Chile

Look up to the night sky in London, Madrid or Manhattan and what you're likely to see beyond the city's warm orange glow are 747 jets or police helicopters rather than stars and planets.

The cosmos has been given a 'bit part' in our modern world, too eternal for our fast paced lives. To get a better view we have to travel to the ends of the earth, to an extraordinary lunar landscape, the world's driest desert.

The Atacama lies in a high plateau between the Andes and the coastal mountains of Chile and Peru. It is virtually rainless, parts having had no rainfall for 40 years.

However, this makes it an ideal place to observe the stars. It attracts many travellers looking to explore the volcanic mountains and untouched pre-historic landscape by day, and the stunning crisp velvety skies at night, where the stars take centre stage.

Many of the pictures in this story were taken using very long exposures of up to one hour, thoughout the course of a night.