Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


Star Trails in Southern Skies
<< Yesterday 15.07.2000 Tomorrow >>
Star Trails in Southern Skies
Credit & Copyright: Anglo-Australian Observatory
Explanation: As the Earth spins on its axis, the stars seem to rotate around us. This motion produces the beautiful concentric arcs traced out by the stars in this time exposure of the southern hemisphere night sky. In the foreground is the dome of the Anglo-Australian Telescope in central New South Wales, Australia. In the middle of the picture is the South Celestial Pole, the projection of Earth's axis of rotation into the southern sky. While the bright star Polaris lies conveniently close to the North Celestial Pole, no bright star similarly marks the pole in the south. Still, the South Celestial Pole is easily identified in the picture as the point in the sky at the center of all the star trail arcs.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < July 2000  >
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su





12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31





Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
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: Earth - star trail - celestial pole - star
Publications with words: Earth - star trail - celestial pole - star
See also:
All publications on this topic >>