Rotation of the Large Magellanic Cloud
* Image Credit & Licence: ESA, Gaia, DPAC

Explanation:
This image is not blurry. It shows in clear detail that the largest satellite galaxy to our Milky Way, the Large Cloud of Magellan (LMC), rotates. First determined with Hubble, the rotation of the LMC is presented here with fine data from the Sun-orbiting Gaia satellite. Gaia measures the positions of stars so accurately that subsequent measurements can reveal slight proper motions of stars not previously detectable. The featured image shows, effectively, exaggerated star trails for millions of faint LMC stars. Inspection of the image also shows the center of the clockwise rotation: near the top of the LMC's central bar. The LMC, prominent in southern skies, is a small spiral galaxy that has been distorted by encounters with the greater Milky Way Galaxy and the lesser Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180516.html

Alborz Mountain Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Guisard (Los Cielos de America, TWAN)

Explanation:
Colourful star trails arc through the night in this wide-angle mountain and skyscape. From a rotating planet, the digitally added consecutive exposures were made with a camera fixed to a tripod and looking south, over northern Iran's Alborz Mountain range. The stars trace concentric arcs around the planet's south celestial pole, below the scene's rugged horizon. Combined, the many short exposures also bring out the pretty star colours. Bluish trails are from stars hotter than our Sun, while yellowish trails are from cooler stars. Near the center, the remarkably pinkish trail was traced by the star-forming Orion Nebula.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180302.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Bow Tie Moon and Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Haitong Yu

Explanation:
On January 31, a leisurely lunar eclipse was enjoyed from all over the night side of planet Earth, the first of three consecutive total eclipses of the Moon. This dramatic time-lapse image followed the celestial performance for over three hours in a combined series of exposures from Hebei Province in Northern China. Fixed to a tripod, the camera records the Full Moon sliding through a clear night sky. Too bright just before and after the eclipse, the Moon's bow tie-shaped trail grows narrow and red during the darker total eclipse phase that lasted an hour and 16 minutes. In the distant background are the colorful trails of stars in concentric arcs above and below the celestial equator.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180208.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Panoramic Eclipse Composite with Star Trails
Image Credit & Copyright: Stephane Vetter (Nuits sacrees, TWAN)

Explanation:
What was happening in the sky during last week's total solar eclipse? This featured little-planet, all-sky, double time-lapse, digitally-fused composite captured celestial action during both night and day from a single location. In this 360x180 panorama, north and south are at the image bottom and top, while east and west are at the left and right edges, respectively. During four hours the night before the eclipse, star trails were captured circling the north celestial pole (bottom) as the Earth spun. During the day of the total eclipse, the Sun was captured every fifteen minutes from sunrise to sunset (top), sometimes in partial eclipse. All of these images were then digitally merged onto a single image taken exactly during the total solar eclipse. Then, the Sun's bright corona could be seen flaring around the dark new Moon (upper left), while Venus simultaneously became easily visible (top). The tree in the middle, below the camera, is a Douglas fir. The images were taken with care and planning at Magone Lake in Oregon, USA.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170830.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Cerro Tololo Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN), AURA

Explanation:
Early one moonlit evening car lights left a wandering trail along the road to the Chilean Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Setting stars left the wandering trails in the sky. The serene view toward the mountainous horizon was captured in a telephoto timelapse image and video taken from nearby Cerro Pachon, home to Gemini South. Afforded by the mountaintop vantage point, the clear, long sight-line passes through layers of atmosphere. The changing atmospheric refraction shifts and distorts the otherwise steady apparent paths of the stars as they set. That effect also causes the distorted appearance of Sun and Moon as they rise or set near a distant horizon.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161022.html

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Gemini Observatory North
* Image Credit & Copyright: Joy Pollard (Gemini Observatory)

Explanation:
It does look like a flying saucer, but this technologically advanced structure is not here to deliver the wise extraterrestrial from the scifi classic movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. It is here to advance our knowledge of the Universe though. Shown sitting near the top of a mountain in Hawaii, the dome of the Gemini Observatory North houses one of two identical 8.1-meter diameter telescopes. Used with its southern hemisphere twin observatory in Chile, the two can access the entire sky from planet Earth. Constructed from 85 exposures lasting 30 seconds each with camera fixed to a tripod, the image also clearly demonstrates that the Earth did not stand still. Adjusted to be brighter at the ends of their arcs, the concentric star trails centered on the North Celestial Pole are a reflection of Earth's rotation around its axis. Close to the horizon at Hawaiian latitudes, Polaris, the North Star, makes the shortest star trail. The fainter denser forest of star trails toward the right is part of the rising Milky Way.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161015.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Little Planet Astro Camp
* Image Credit & Copyright: György Soponyai

Explanation:
Day and night on this little planet look a lot like day and night on planet Earth. In fact, the images used to construct the little planet projection, a digitally warped and stitched mosaic covering 360x180 degrees, were taken during day and night near Tarján, Hungary, planet Earth. They span a successful 33-hour-long photo experiment at July's Hungarian Astronomical Association Astro Camp. The time-series composite follows the solar disk in 20 minute intervals from sunrise to sunset and over six hours of star trails in the northern night sky centered on the North Celestial Pole near bright star Polaris. The orbiting International Space Station traced the offset arc across the northern night. Below the little planet's nightside horizon, red light lamps of fellow astro-campers left the night-long, dancing trails.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160902.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Ghosts and Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)

Explanation:
Don't be scared. Stars won't fall from the sky and ghosts won't really haunt your neighborhood tonight. But it looks like they might be doing just that in this eerie picture of an eccentric old abandoned house in moonlight. A treat for the eye the image is a trick of stacked multiple exposures, 60 frames exposed for 25 seconds each. While the digital frames were recorded with a camera fixed to a tripod, stars traced concentric arcs about the north celestial pole. But that's only a reflection of planet Earth's rotation on its axis. Conveniently marked by bright star Polaris, the pole could be positioned above the peaks of the deserted dwelling. Wrapped in a blanket to stay warm, the photographer's own movements during the exposures were blended into the ghostly apparitions. Of course, the grinning Jack-o-Lantern is there to wish you a safe and Happy Halloween!

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151031.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Auroras and Star Trails over Iceland
* Image Credit & Copyright: Vincent Brady

Explanation:
It was one of the quietest nights of aurora in weeks. Even so, in northern- Iceland during last November, faint auroras lit up the sky every clear night. The featured 360-degree panorama is the digital fusion of four wide-angle cameras each simultaneously taking 101 shots over 42 minutes. In the foreground is serene Lake Myvatn dotted with picturesque rock formations left over from ancient lava flows. Low green auroras sweep across the sky above showing impressive complexity near the horizon. Stars far in the distance appear to show unusual trails -- as the Earth turned -- because early exposures were artificially faded.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150518.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

When Vega is North
* Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro | Dark Sky Alqueva

Explanation:
In only about 12,000 years Vega will be the North Star, the closest bright star to our fair planet's North Celestial Pole. By then, when you fix your camera to a tripod long exposures of the night sky will show the concentric arcs of star trails centered on a point near Vega as Earth rotates on its axis. Of course, presently the bright star conveniently near the North Celestial Pole is Polaris, but that will change as the Earth's axis of rotation precesses, like the wobble of a spinning top with a precession period of about 26,000 years. If your camera is ready now and you don't want to wait 12,000 years for Vega to be the North Star, consider this ingenious demonstration of contemporary star trails (left) versus star trails reminiscent of the year 14000 CE. Both were recorded this April at the Alqueva Dark Sky Reserve in Alentejo, Portugal. To produce the more Vega-centric star trails of the distant future, astronomer Miguel Claro combined the rotation of two startracking camera mounts to create the apparent shift in the North Celestial Pole. (Addendum: Thanks to APOD readers who note that when Vega is the North Star it will also appear near the same position that Polaris is now relative to the landscape.)

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150508.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Star Trails Over Indonesia
*Image Credit & Licence: HuiChieh (my dark sky)

Explanation:
Both land and sky were restless. The unsettled land included erupting Mount Semeru in the distance, the caldera of steaming Mount Bromo on the left, flowing fog, and the lights of moving cars along roads that thread between hills and volcanoes in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in East Java, Indonesia. The stirring sky included stars circling the South Celestial Pole and a meteor streaking across the image right. The above 270-image composite was taken from King Kong Hill in mid-June over two hours, with a rising Moon lighting the landscape.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140818.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

A Luminous Night
* Image Credit & Copyright: Phil Hart

Explanation:
What shines in the world at night? Just visible to the eye, a rare electric blue glow spread along the shores of Victoria Lake on January 16, 2013. Against reflections of a light near the horizon, this digitally stacked long exposure recorded the bioluminescence of Noctiluca scintillans, plankton stimulated by the lapping waves. Above, the night skies of the Gippsland Lakes region, Victoria, Australia shine with a fainter greenish airglow. Oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere, initially excited by ultraviolet sunlight, produce the more widely seen fading atmospheric chemiluminescence. Washed out by the Earth's rotation, the faint band of the southern summer Milky Way stretches from the horizon as star trails circle the South Celestial Pole.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140809.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #education

Rio at Night
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
In this night skyscape setting stars trail above the western horizon over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a venue for the 2014 World Cup. Gentle arcs from the bright, colorful stars of Orion are near the center of the frame, while the starfield itself straddles planet Earth's celestial equator during the long exposure. Of course, trails from more local lights seem to create the strident paths through the scene. Air traffic smears an intense glow over an airport at the far right, while helicopters fly above the city and boats cruise near the coast. Striping the waterfront are tantalizing reflections of bright lights along Rio's central beaches, Botafogo and Flamengo. Near the horizon, the brightest fixed light is the famous Cristo statue overlooking Rio at night.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140620.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Star Trails over El Capitan
* Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Bolte (UCSC)

Explanation:
Towering 3,000 feet from base to summit, the famous granite face of El Capitan in Earth's Yosemite National Park just hides the planet's north celestial pole in this skyscape. Of course, the north celestial pole is at the center of all the star trails. Their short arcs reflecting the planet's daily rotation on its axis are traced in a digital stack of 36 sequential exposures. Linear trails of passing airplane navigation lights and a flare from car lights along the road below are also captured in the sequential stack. But the punctuated trail of light seen against the sheer El Capitan itself follows a climbing team on the night of November 8, 2013. The team is ascending toward the summit along The Nose, a historic rock climbing route.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140321.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Warped Sky: Star Trails over Arches National Park
* Image Credit & Copyright: Vincent Brady

Explanation:
What's happened to the sky? A time warp, of sorts, and a digital space warp too. The time warp occurs because this image captured in a single frame a two and a half hour exposure of the night sky. As a result, prominent star trails are visible. The space warp occurs because the picture is actually a full 360 degree panorama, horizontally compressed to fit your browser. As the Earth rotated, stars appeared to circle both the North Celestial Pole, on the left, and the South Celestial Pole, just below the horizon on the right. The above panorama over Arches National Park in Utah, USA, was captured two weeks ago during early morning hours. While the eye-catching texture of ancient layered sandstone covers the image foreground, twenty-meter tall Delicate Arch is visible on the far right, and the distant arch of our Milky Way Galaxy is visible near the image center.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140317.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Rocket Streak and Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Killian / AmericaSpace

Explanation:
Fixed to a tripod and looking east across the Kennedy Space Center's Turn Basin, a camera captured these star trails as a series of short exposures over a three hour period on the evening of January 23rd. Positioned just a few miles from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, it also captured a spectacular night launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite TDRS-L. Creating the trails, the apparent motion of the stars through the sky is just a reflection of the daily rotation of planet Earth on its axis. But that rotation is also the reason the rocket streak follows a path arcing east across the Atlantic. Launching toward the east, in the direction of Earth's rotation, adds the rotation velocity to the rocket and reduces the fuel needed to reach orbit. A little ironically, TDRS-L is destined for a geostationary orbit. From there, 36,000 kilometers or so above the equator, its orbital period will match Earth's rotation and the satellite will hang motionless in planet Earth's sky.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140130.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Grand Canyon Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
One of the natural wonders of planet Earth, the Grand Canyon in the American southwest stretches across this early evening skyscape. The digitally stacked sequence reveals the canyon's layers of sedimentary rock in bright moonlight. Exposed sedimentary rock layers range in age from about 200 million to 2 billion years old, a window to history on a geological timescale. A recent study has found evidence that the canyon itself may have been carved by erosion as much as 70 million years ago. With the camera fixed to a tripod while Earth rotates, each star above carves a graceful arc through the night sky. The concentric arcs are centered on the north celestial pole, the extension of Earth's rotation axis into space, presently near the bright star Polaris.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130303.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Teimareh Petroglyphs and Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
Engraved in rock, these ancient petroglyphs are abundant in the Teimareh valley, located in the Zagros Mountains of central Iran. They likely tell a tale of hunters and animals found in the middle eastern valley 6,000 years ago or more, etched by artists in a prehistoric age. In the night sky above are star trails etched by the rotation of planet Earth during the long composite exposure made with a modern digital camera. On the left, the center of the star trail arcs is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), the extension of Earth's axis into space. Polaris, the North Star, leaves the bright, short, stubby trail closest to the NCP. But when these petroglyphs were carved, Polaris would have made a long arc through the night. Since the Earth's rotation axis precesses like a wobbling top, 6,000 years ago the NCP was near the border of the constellations Draco and Ursa Major, some 30 degrees from its current location in planet Earth's sky.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120712.html

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La Silla Star Trails North and South
* Image Credit & Copyright: Alexandre Santerne (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille / Observatoire de Haute Provence)

Explanation:
If the tripod is set up at ESO's La Silla Observatory, high in the Atacama desert of Chile, your star trails would look something like this. Spanning about 4 hours on the night of January 24, the image is actually a composite of 250 consecutive 1-minute exposures, looking toward the north. The North Celestial Pole, at the center of the star trail arcs, is just below the horizon in this southern hemisphere perspective. In the foreground, the polished 15-meter diameter dish antenna of the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (now decommissioned) shows star trails toward the south by reflection. Sweeping around the South Celestial Pole, the distorted arcs of those stars appear underneath the southern horizon in the focusing dish's inverted view. Right of the dish is the dome of the observatory's 3.6 meter telescope, home to the planet hunting HARPS spectrograph.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120202.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

MAGIC Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
Colorful star trails arc across the night in this surreal timelapse skyscape from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the Canary island of La Palma. A reflection of the Earth's daily rotation on its axis, the star trails are also reflected in one of a pair of 17 meter diameter, multi-mirrored MAGIC telescopes. The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) telescope itself is intended to detect gamma rays - photons with over 100 billion times the energy of visible light. As the high energy gamma rays impact the upper atmosphere they produce air showers of high-energy particles. A fast camera monitoring the multi-mirrored surface records in detail brief flashes of optical light, called Cherenkov light, created by the air shower particles. Astronomers can then ultimately relate the optical flashes to cosmic sources of extreme gamma-rays.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111014.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

A Summer Night's Dream
* Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Rosinski

Explanation:
Fix your digital camera to a tripod, start a long series of exposures, and you too can record star trails. The concentric arcs traced by the stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis often produce dreamlike scenes in otherwise familiar situations. Fall asleep, though, and the results might surprise you. Setting up on a summer night, photographer Mike Rosinski began his exposures, initially planning to capture about 45-55 minutes worth of star trails from his yard in Hartland, Michigan, USA. But he dozed, only to awaken some 3 hours later to find his camera had continued to run until the battery died. Composing the resulting images, the graceful concentric star trails were expected, along with light from a late rising Moon glinting on windows. Still, as he slept on the warm night a blizzard of yellow streaks flooded the scene, not left by fairies but fireflies.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110805.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Lewin's Challenge: 360 Degree Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Wienerroither (U. Wien)

Explanation:
You could be the first person ever to take a real single-exposure image like this. The above image from Vienna, Austria is not real in the sense that the 360 degree star trails in the sky appear only because of a digital trick. Real star trails observed above Vienna could never go 360 degrees around because the Sun would rise at some time during the exposure and dominate the frame. Star trails of any length occur because as the Earth spins on its axis, the sky seems to rotate around us. This motion, called diurnal motion, produces the beautiful concentric arcs traced by stars during long time exposures. Towards the middle of the above digitally stretched picture is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), easily identified as the point in the sky at the center of all the star trail arcs. The star Polaris, commonly known as the North Star, made the very short bright circle near the NCP. Walter Lewin, though, has asked APOD to pose this as a challenge to astrophotographers: create a real single-exposure image of a clear night sky that features 360 degree star trails. Of course, such an image would only be possible near the poles of our fair planet, because only there could a nighttime run for more than 24 hours.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110717.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Scintillating
* Image Credit & Copyright: Juergen Michelberger

Explanation:
On June 4, 2010 Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo, and wandering planet Mars were at about the same apparent brightness, separated on the sky by 1.5 degrees. An ingenious and creative 10 second exposure from a swinging camera recorded these gyrating trails of the celestial pairing. Can you tell which trail belongs to the star and which to the planet? Hint: atmospheric turbulence causes the image of the star to scintillate or vary in brightness and color more readily than the planet. The scintillation is more pronounced because the star is effectively a point source of light seen as a narrow bundle of light rays. Rapidly changing refraction due to turbulence along the line of sight affects different colors of light by different amounts and generally produces a twinkling effect for stars. But Mars is much closer than the distant stars and an extended source of light. Though tiny, its disk is seen as a bundle of light rays that is substantially broader compared to a star's and so, on average, less affected by small scale turbulence. The result is the varied, rainbow like trail for Regulus (left) and the steadier, consistently reddish trail for Mars.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110428.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Night and Day above Almost Planet Sounio
* Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)

Explanation:
Has a new planet been discovered? What is pictured above is a remarkable 24 hour mosaic surrounding a spot on Sounio, Greece, right here on planet Earth. Images taken at night compose the top half of the picture, with star trails lasting as long as 11 hours visible. Contrastingly, images taken during the day compose the bottom of the image, with the Sun being captured once every 15 minutes. The image center shows a Little Prince wide angle projection centered on the ground but including gravel, grass, trees, Saint John's church, clouds, crepuscular rays, and even a signature icon of the photographer -- the Temple of Poseidon. Meticulous planning as well as several transition shots and expert digital processing eventually culminated in this image documenting half of the final two days of last year.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110117.html

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Quadrantids over Qumis
* Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

Explanation:
The Quadrantid Meteor Shower is an annual event for planet Earth's northern hemisphere skygazers. It usually peaks briefly in the cold, early morning hours of January 4. The shower is named for its radiant point on the sky within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis. That position is situated near the boundaries of the modern constellations Hercules, Bootes, and Draco. In this haunting time exposure, two quadrantid meteor streaks are captured crossing trails left by rising stars of the constellations Virgo and Corvus, but Saturn leaves the brightest "star" trail. The meteor streaks, one bright and one faint, are nearly parallel above and right of center in the frame. Fittingly, the old cistern structure in the foreground lies above the now buried city of Qumis. Known as a city of many gates, Qumis (in Greek history Hecatompylos), was founded 2300 years ago in ancient Persia.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110114.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #science #nature

Star Trails in the North
* Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hedén (Clear Skies, TWAN)

Explanation:
Pointing skyward, the wall of this ruined Viking church still stands after a thousand winters, near the town of Vallentuna, Sweden. The time exposure records the scene on December 14th as stars leave graceful arcing trails during a long night, reflecting planet Earth's daily rotation on its axis. The Earth's axis points toward Polaris, the North Star, near the center of the concentric trails. Welcomed by skygazers on this winter's night, a bright meteor from the annual Geminid meteor shower also flashes through the frame. The meteor cuts across the star trails just above the lower church wall. Contributing to the beautiful composition, meteor streak and church apex both gesture toward the North Celestial Pole.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101224.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature

Star Trails and the Captain's Ghost
* Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)

Explanation:
Look closely at this surreal nightscape. In the dreamlike scene, star trails arc over an old ship run aground on a beach near Gytheio, Peloponnesus in southern Greece. Could that be the captain's ghost haunting the beach, gazing forlornly at the decaying wreck, hovering over starlight reflected in still water? Actually, the ephemeral shape is the photographer. Instead of a single long exposure to record the motion of the stars as the Earth rotates on its axis, the picture is composed of 90 consecutive images, each exposure 90 seconds long. Digitally stacking the individual exposures then reconstructs the star trails. It also creates a ghostly, semi-transparent figure of the photographer who was captured standing on the beach in only one of the exposures.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101029.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails and Tajinastes
* Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel López

Explanation:
What bizarre planet do these alien creatures inhabit? It's only planet Earth, of course. In this well-composed scene, the sky is filled with star trails around the north celestial pole. A reflection of the Earth's daily rotation on its axis, star trails are familiar to photographers who fix their camera to a tripod and make long exposures of the night sky. But the imposing forms gazing skyward probably look strange to many denizens of Earth. Found on the Canary Island of Tenerife, they are red tajinastes, rare flowering plants that grow to a height of up to 3 meters. Hidden among the rocks of the volcanic terrain, tajinastes bloom in spring and early summer and then die after their seeds mature. On the distant horizon, below and left of the celestial pole, lies the Teide volcano.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100618.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Illuminated Cloud Trails Above Greece
* Credit & Copyright: Chris Kotsiopoulos

Explanation:
It may appear to be day, but it's night. Those wondrous orange streaks may appear to be rays from the setting Sun, but they're actually thin clouds illuminated by the Moon as they quickly streaked toward the distant horizon. The thick clouds on the far left may appear to have many layers, but actually they are just a few simple clouds captured on numerous separate exposures. What is surely true, though, is that the above time lapse image sequence was taken over two hours, about two weeks ago, in Sounio, Greece. Also, those really are star trails swirling around the north star Polaris on the upper right of the image. But what about the building in the foreground? It may appear to be a famous ancient structure, but it's actually a small deserted church built only last century.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100315.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Yukon Aurora with Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Yuichi Takasaka / TWAN / www.blue-moon.ca

Explanation:
Fixed to a tripod, a camera can record graceful trails traced by stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis. But at high latitudes during March and April, it can also capture an aurora shimmering in the night. In fact, the weeks surrounding the equinox, in both spring and fall, offer a favorable season for aurora hunters. The possibilities are demonstrated in this beautiful moonlit vista from northwestern Canadian territory the Yukon. It was taken during the early morning of March 1, off the Klondike Highway about 60 kilometers south of Dawson City. To compose the picture, many short exposures were digitally combined to follow the concentric star trail arcs while including the greenish auroral curtains also known as the northern lights.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100311.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #science #nature

Star Trails Over Oregon
* Credit & Copyright: Joshua Bury

Explanation:
As the Earth spins on its axis, the sky seems to rotate around us. This motion, called diurnal motion, produces the beautiful concentric trails traced by stars during time exposures. Partial-circle star trails are pictured above over Grants Pass, Oregon, USA last month. Near the middle of the circles is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), easily identified as the point in the sky at the center of all the star trail arcs. The star Polaris, commonly known as the North Star, made the very short bright circle near the NCP. About 12,000 years ago, the bright star Vega was the North Star, and in about 14,000 years, as the Earth's spin axis slowly continues to precess, Vega will become the North Star again.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090909.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Running Messier's Marathon
* Credit & Copyright: Amir Hossein Abolfath

Explanation:
Gripped by an astronomical spring fever, many northern hemisphere stargazers embark on a Messier Marathon. Completing the marathon requires viewing all 110 objects in 18th century French astronomer Charles Messier's catalog in one glorious dusk-to-dawn observing run. As daunting as it sounds, there are often favorable weekend dates for completing the task that fall on nearly moonless nights near the March equinox. This colorful, six hour long time exposure of a group dedicated to running this year's Messier marathon includes celestial star trails along with terrestrial lighting trails from about 200 amateur astronomers. It was recorded from the isolated, ancient Bahram Palace in northern Iran's Kavir National Park. Astronomer and former Messier Marathon organizer for the ASIAC Babak Tafreshi offers this intriguing time-lapse movie (2MB wmv file) of the event.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080419.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails at 19,000 Feet
* Credit & Copyright: Serge Brunier

Explanation:
In myth, Atlas holds up the heavens, but in this stunning view a mountain appears to serve as the southern night sky pivots around a snowy peak. Recorded during a climbing expedition at an altitude above 19,000 feet (temperature -18 degrees C), the picture places the South Celestial Pole over the Andes mountain Ojos del Salado. Topping out at over 22,000 feet, the Ojos del Salado is a stratovolcano, the highest active volcano on planet Earth. The time exposure lasted for an hour, recording the graceful arcing star trails along with the rising Milky Way (left) and setting Magellanic clouds.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061202.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Gemini South Star Trails
* Credit & Copyright: Elke Schulz

Explanation:
Stars seem to arc through southern skies in this surrealistic time exposure -- recorded before moonrise from the Gemini South Observatory, Cerro Pachon, Chile, Planet Earth. During the one hour 40 minute exposure camera and tripod were fixed, so the concentric star trails are a reflection of Earth's daily rotation about its axis. The view looks to the south and includes the Gemini telescope enclosure in the foreground. At the apparent center of the curving trails, the South Celestial Pole lies just off the upper left edge. Two faint, wide streaks track the Magellanic Clouds, satellites of the Milky Way Galaxy, while a meteor flashes throught the scene just left of the observatory.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060901.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Star Trails Above Mauna Kea
* Credit & Copyright: Peter Michaud (Gemini Observatory), AURA, NSF

Explanation:
Is there a road to the stars? Possibly there are many, but the physical road pictured above leads up to the top of a dormant volcano that is a premier spot on planet Earth for observing stars and astronomical phenomena. At the top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea are some of the largest optical telescopes on Earth, including the Keck telescopes, Gemini, Subaru, CFHT, and the IRTF. Together, these 10-meter eyes have made many universe-redefining discoveries, including detailing that most of the universe is made not of familiar matter but of mysterious dark matter and dark energy. The above picture was compiled from over 150 one-minute exposures from a digital camera. During that time, the rotation of the Earth made the stars far in the distance appear to have long star trails. The foreground landscape was illuminated by the Moon.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051220.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

The Star Trails of Kilimanjaro
* Credit & Copyright: Dan Heller

Explanation:
The night had no moon, but the stars were out. And camped at 16,000 feet on Mt. Kilimanjaro, photographer Dan Heller recorded this marvelous 3 1/2 hour long exposure. Here the landscape is lit mostly by the stars. Flashlights give the tents an erie internal radiance while the greenish glow from the distant city lights of Moshi, Tanzania filter through the clouds below. The view from this famous equatorial African mountain is toward the south, putting the South Celestial Pole close to the horizon on the far left, near the center of the graceful concentric star trail arcs. In the thin air and clear dark skies, even the ghostly Milky Way left a faint triangular glow as it swept across the middle of the dreamlike scene.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040911.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

Savudrija Star Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Branko Nadj
https://www.instagram.com/bnastro000/

Explanation:
Savudrija lighthouse shines along the coast near the northern end of the Istrian peninsula in this well-composed night skyscape. A navigational aid for sailors on the Adriatic Sea, the historic lighthouse was constructed in the early 19th century. But an even older aid to navigation shines in the sky above, Polaris, alpha star of the constellation Ursa Minor and also known as the North Star. In this scene Polaris forms the shortest bright arc near the North Celestial Pole, the extension of Earth's axis of rotation into space. Of course, the North Celestial Pole lies exactly at the center of all the concentric startrails. The composite image is a digital stack of 400 exposures, each 30 seconds long, taken with camera and tripod fixed to a rotating planet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savudrija_Lighthouse
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110514.html
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/whats-up-june-2025-skywatching-tips-from-nasa/

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250605.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

2022 July 28

North Celestial Tree
* Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN)
https://twanight.org/profile/jeff-dai/

Explanation:
An ancient tree seems to reach out and touch Earth's North Celestial Pole in this well-planned night skyscape. Consecutive exposures for the timelapse composition were recorded with a camera fixed to a tripod in the Yiwu Desert Poplar Forests in northwest Xinjiang, China. The graceful star trail arcs reflect Earth's daily rotation around its axis. By extension, the axis of rotation leads to the center of the concentric arcs in the night sky. Known as the North Star, bright star Polaris is a friend to northern hemisphere night sky photographers and celestial navigators alike. That's because Polaris lies very close to the North Celestial Pole on the sky. Of course it can be found at the tip of an outstretched barren branch in a postcard from a rotating planet.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220728.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

2025 September 13

Star Trails over One-Mile Radio Telescope
* Image Credit & Copyright: Joao Yordanov Serralheiro
https://www.joaoysphotography.com/about

Explanation:
The steerable 60 foot diameter dish antenna of the One-Mile Telescope at Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge, UK, is pointing skyward in this evocative night-skyscape. To capture the dramatic scene, consecutive 30 second exposures were recorded over a period of 90 minutes. Combined, the exposures reveal a background of gracefully arcing star trails that reflect planet Earth's daily rotation on its axis. The North Celestial Pole, the extension of Earth's axis of rotation into space, points near Polaris, the North Star. That's the bright star that creates the short trail near the center of the concentric arcs. But the historic One-Mile Telescope array also relied on planet Earth's rotation to operate. Exploring the universe at radio wavelengths, it was the first radio telescope to use Earth-rotation aperture synthesis. That technique uses the rotation of the Earth to change the relative orientation of the telescope array and celestial radio sources to create radio maps of the sky at a resolution better than that of the human eye.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250913.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #science #nature

2026 March 13

Toolondo Totality Trails
* Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Perry
https://www.pdogastrophotography.com/about-the-photographer

Explanation:
In this composited night skyscape, stacked exposures trace graceful star trails above Lake Toolondo, Victoria, Australia, planet Earth. Captured while the lunar eclipse of March 3 was in progress, the exposures used were made during the hour-long total eclipse phase. So faint star trails are easily visible along with the trail of the reddened Moon in the eclipse-darkened skies above the lake and trees. Of course, the apparent motion of Moon and stars revealed in the timelapse composite reflect the Earth's daily rotation around its axis. Dramatically punctuating the Moon's trail as totality ended, a single, separate telephoto image of the totally eclipsed Moon was scaled and blended into the scene.
https://science.nasa.gov/moon/eclipses/
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5604
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260307.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260305.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230922.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240817.html

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/fap/ap260313.html

#space #earth #astrophotography #photography #astroart #art #science #nature #education #apod