Starship Asterisk*

Nauset Light Star Trails

Explanation: In myth, Atlas holds up the heavens, but in this scene they seem to pivot around a lighthouse beacon. Photographed with a camera fixed to a tripod, the well-planned 30 minute exposure records star trails in the northern sky, reflecting the daily rotation of planet Earth. Hidden behind the top of the prominent Nauset Lighthouse on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, the North Celestial Pole is at the center of all the star trail arcs. Making a complete circle, 360 degrees, in 24 hours, the star trail arcs cover 15 degrees each hour or 7.5 degrees in thirty minutes. Foreground lighting is courtesy of September 23rd's first quarter moonlight.

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great angle!

The lighthouse replaces Atlas, till he comes back

Interesting shot....Atlas is just out for coffee, he will be back....

Got a nice swirl to it...I'm dizzy...

:---[===] *

" Making a complete circle, 360 degrees, in 24 hours, " - not true: "making a complete circle, 360 degrees, in 23 hrs, 56 minutes and some 4 seconds" - bjmb

I would have expected this from some poor deprived person in the SOUTHERN hemisphere!

I have seen so many pictures of star trails. (This is a nice one.) I, who have no real equipment, would like to do something a little different. That would be to take an extended time lapse photo of the NCP, but have the camera fixed (adjusted by tracking motor) to reduce the stars to just mere points and show the geostationary satellites with trails. This would allow me some idea, with all the clear skies and low light pollution to have some idea where these reside and try to catch a glimpse of them when they catch the sun and reflect brightly. Just a thought.

The first link made my neck hurt.

drollere wrote:what is the longest period that APOD has gone without publishing a photograph of "star trails plus picturesque landscape elements"?

currently: 69 days. or, if you prefer chateau star trails to polar star trails, 74 days. as the APOD reader says, "I have seen so many pictures of star trails." oh yes ... yes you have.

grady.stroud wrote:I have seen so many pictures of star trails. (This is a nice one.) I, who have no real equipment, would like to do something a little different. That would be to take an extended time lapse photo of the NCP, but have the camera fixed (adjusted by tracking motor) to reduce the stars to just mere points and show the geostationary satellites with trails. This would allow me some idea, with all the clear skies and low light pollution to have some idea where these reside and try to catch a glimpse of them when they catch the sun and reflect brightly. Just a thought.

Geostationary satellites are over the equator, so if you aim your camera at the NCP it will need to be very wide angle. Geostationary and geosynchronous satellites show up (as streaks) all the time when making astronomical images at low declinations.

Chris Peterson wrote:

grady.stroud wrote:I have seen so many pictures of star trails. (This is a nice one.) I, who have no real equipment, would like to do something a little different. That would be to take an extended time lapse photo of the NCP, but have the camera fixed (adjusted by tracking motor) to reduce the stars to just mere points and show the geostationary satellites with trails. This would allow me some idea, with all the clear skies and low light pollution to have some idea where these reside and try to catch a glimpse of them when they catch the sun and reflect brightly. Just a thought.

Geostationary satellites are over the equator, so if you aim your camera at the NCP it will need to be very wide angle. Geostationary and geosynchronous satellites show up (as streaks) all the time when making astronomical images at low declinations.

Here's a nice video: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120411.html

How long did it take the French to get this shot, another 2 years? Americans are preserving and studying light photons in a cage of mirrors and finding remnants of water on Mars, yet NASA APOD prefers to spend our tax money paying the same folks for purdy pictures taken with a Nikon from the ground. I saw pictures of the sedimentary rocks of Mars in the Washington Post while APOD doesn't deem that info important enough to show to the world. Perhaps a fifth or two of Stolichnaya Wodka (with American cranberries juice) will make me care less if American institutions strive for excellence. It seems to work well for the Russians and the EU

Starswarm Magellan wrote:How long did it take the French to get this shot, another 2 years? Americans are preserving and studying light photons in a cage of mirrors and finding remnants of water on Mars, yet NASA APOD prefers to spend our tax money paying the same folks for purdy pictures taken with a Nikon from the ground. I saw pictures of the sedimentary rocks of Mars in the Washington Post while APOD doesn't deem that info important enough to show to the world. Perhaps a fifth or two of Stolichnaya Wodka (with American cranberries juice) will make me care less if American institutions strive for excellence. It seems to work well for the Russians and the EU

If you find a good photo of the light bouncing cage you might post it here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=29662

Sedimentary rock on Mars was here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121002.html

Perhaps less Wodka would make you less irrational.