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In August around 3 am the Milky Way rises above the 14692 ft (4478 m) high Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. After moonset or at new moon millions of stars belonging to our galaxy light up the sky. Realizing pointy stars during the 4 minutes exposure time requires star tracking with the camera to compensate for earth rotation. This causes also faint stars to appear on the image so that the number of stars visible largely increases. However, the reflection of the stars in the lake remain as trails as the star tracking is mirrored and hence tracks in the wrong direction. Hence this effect documents the dynamics of the earth rotation. Under the vast firmament of the Milky Way the star constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius are setting below the horizon to the left and right of Matterhorn. The twofold Milky Way intersected by dark clouds of interstellar dust shows the constellations of Scutum and the Ophiuchus. Just above three bright stars are visible that belong to the so called summer triangle. These stars are Atair of Aquila, Wega in Lyra and Deneb in Cygnus. The constellations atop the image belong to Cepheus and the Cassiopeia.

August 2011
Canon 5D MkII, Rokinon 14 mm, f/2.8, static and dynamic exposure of 4 min, ISO 1600, tripod, AstroTrac TT320 digital astronomical mount

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