CFHT Star Trails
			
		
		
		
			High atop a dormant 
volcano in Hawaii, an eye 3.6-meters wide stares at a 
faint light on the night sky.  
Unlike a human eye, which 
collects light for only a fraction of a second at a time, a telescope such as the 
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope 
(CFHT) can collect light for hours. 
Faint sources become visible that were previously 
beyond human imagination.  
These meticulous observations usually take so long, though, that the 
Earth's spin causes the telescope to move under the sky.  
This spin is visible in the above photograph as 
star trails in the background.  
The CFHT itself must counter-spin to keep on target.  
The enormous size of the 
CFHT dome can be gauged by the car in the foreground.  
The CFHT is one of the smaller telescopes atop 
Mauna Kea.