Star Trails at Dawn
Credit &
Copyright:
Koen van Gorp
Just fix your camera to a tripod and you too
can make an image of graceful
trails
traced by the stars as
planet Earth rotates on its axis.
Made on September 14 from Montlaux, France, this wide-angle
view nicely
shows
the stars near the celestial equator tracing nearly straight
lines in projection, while stars north and
south of the equator,
respectively, appear to
circle the north and south
celestial poles.
Featured are the stars of Orion (right of center), brilliant Venus
rising (left) as bright star Sirius rises in the south (bottom center),
and a polar orbiting
Iridium satellite (upper left).
Beautiful dawn sky colors seem painted along the horizon.
This remarkable picture was constructed from 477 consecutive 30
second digital exposures recorded over 4.3 hours and later
combined.