Cerro Tololo Trails
Explanation:
Early one moonlit evening car lights left a wandering
trail along the road to the Chilean
Cerro Tololo Inter-American
Observatory.
Setting stars left the wandering trails in the sky.
The serene view toward the mountainous horizon
was captured in a telephoto
timelapse image
and video
taken from nearby Cerro Pachon, home to
Gemini South.
Afforded by the mountaintop
vantage point,
the clear, long sight-line passes through layers of atmosphere.
The changing atmospheric refraction shifts and distorts the otherwise steady
apparent paths of the stars as they set.
That effect also causes the distorted appearance of
Sun and
Moon as they rise or set
near a distant horizon.
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.
