Northern Stars from Portugal

November 21, 2010

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Photographer: Miguel Claro; Miguel's Website
Summary Author: Miguel Claro; Jim Foster

The photo above showing tracks of the stars that circle above the Northern Hemisphere was taken from Cape Espichel, Portugal on June 7, 2010. The 551 ft (168 m) high cliffs of Cape Espichel offer breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean as well as unobstructed views of the night sky. Click on the photo to identify the star trails. Note that only Polaris, the star nearest the North Celestial Pole (upper right), is without an obvious trail. The photographs have a total exposure time of 64 minutes -- starting at 3:41 a.m. and ending at 4:45 a.m. (both local time).

Photo details: Canon 50D camera; 128 images, each one of 30 seconds exposure; aperture of f/4.5; ISO 1000; Sigma lens set to 11 mm; Cokin diffuse filter. I combined all shots manually in Photoshop CS3 to produce a single image.