Dolomite Mountains, Italy
Dolomite Mountains, Italy (© Carlos Fernandez/Getty Images)
Dolomites, Italy
Few places in Europe offer the opportunity to take in the Milky Way like the Dolomites. Far from cities and light pollution, and more than 3,000 metres above sea level, the Dolomites offer a stunning night sky above shear, jagged peaks. Also known as the Pale Mountains, the Dolomites are named for the carbonate rock they are composed of, which was in turn named after 18th-century French mineralogist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, the first scientist to describe the mineral.
© Carlos Fernandez/Getty Images