Thursday, May 15, 2014

Timelapse at the Grand Canyon by Gavin Haffernan

This timelapse video by Gavin Heffernan from SunchaserPictures is just amazing. Shot at Grand Canyon National Park with stunning Milky Way shots together with star trails.


Directly quoting from the description in Vimeo:
Most night shots were captured at 25 second exposures on our Canon EOS 6D's and Canon 5D mk3's with a variety of wide, fast lenses. Because the nights we picked had almost zero moon, the stars and Milky Way were exceptionally clear (once the storm clouds parted), which also made a perfect galactic palette for some star trails experiments, including a new mirroring/distortion effect at 2:56 that revealed a cool native pattern. For those not familiar with past vids, the star trails effect is created by tracing the rotation of the Earth's axis, using a long exposure timelapse pictures and an awesome rendering program called STARSTAX.
Keep an eye out at 2:10 (top center) as a meteor seems to BURST through the atmosphere and leave a smoke trail in its wake. Maybe you scientists or astronomers out there can help explain in better language :) **UPDATE** The great PHIL PLAIT at Slate explains in his BAD ASTRONOMY blog: "At 2:10 in, a meteor flashes, and leaves behind a curling wisp of what looks like smoke. This is called a persistent train, the vaporized remains of the meteoroid itself, and can glow for several minutes. The upper level winds from 60 – 100 km above Earth’s surface are what blow it into those curlicues." Thanks Phil! Check out the article here: slate.me/RLWBoG


YIKÁÍSDÁHÁ from Sunchaser Pictures on Vimeo.

I have always wanted to shoot the Milky Way but conditions here is not optimal with lots of cloud cover every night in addition to the severe light pollution. Although recently it was reported that someone actually managed to shoot the Milky Way, I remain skeptical on whether it is possible.

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