Credit & Copyright: S. Guisard &
J. F. Salgado,
ESO,
Bulletpeople.com;
Music:
Arcadia (Licence: Kevin Macleod)
Explanation:
Why is the Earth moving in the above video?
Most time lapse videos of the night
sky show the stars and sky
moving above a steady Earth.
Here,
however,
the frames have been digitally rotated so that it is the stars that stay (approximately)
steady, and the Earth that moves beneath them.
The video dramatically shows
the actual rotation of the Earth, called
diurnal motion,
in a clear and moving way, as if the camera were
floating free in space.
The
telescopes featured in the video are the
Very Large Telescopes
(VLT) in
Chile,
a group of four of the
largest optical telescopes
deployed anywhere in the world.
A discerning
observer of the
above time lapse movie may
also note the use of
laser guide stars,
zodiacal light, the
Large and
Small Magellanic
Clouds, and fast-moving, sunlight-reflecting,
Earth-orbiting satellites.
The original video, on which the above sequences are based, can be found
here.
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
|
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: movie - diurnal motion - VLT
Publications with words: movie - diurnal motion - VLT
See also: