APOD: Celestial Trails over Greece (2011 May 04)

[APOD Robot]

Celestial Trails over Greece

Explanation: If you watch the horizon at just the right place and at just the right time, you can witness some spectacular juxtapositions between Earth and sky. In the above video, stars, the Moon, and even a partially eclipsed Sun were recorded rising and setting over photogenic landmarks in Greece. The inspiring video features effects on star trails that are pretty but somewhat deceiving, as stars will typically remain at nearly the same brightness as the Earth turns beneath them. Also, the time lapse nature of part of the video causes clouds to appear to jump about and fade in an unfamiliar fashion. Several stills of these scenes have appeared on APOD previously, including the partial solar eclipse over the Temple of Poseidon, cloud and star trails over a deserted church, and star trails over an old ship. Other foreground venues include an old church in Peloponnese, a stone bridge in Ioannina, a Frankish Castle in Euboea, and a picturesque sunset above Lycabettus Hill, Athens.

<< Previous APOD

Discuss Any APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

[mexhunter]

Very well done timelapse. Excelent!!!
Greetings
César

[owlice]

Very nice, and I loved loved loved the stars raining down!

[Beyond]

Ahhhh, tis nice to see a movie without a lot of overpaid Stars in it. And the special effects were great also!! I rate it as 4-YEE-HA's

[Alnilam]

More of "time-lapses" in this video are not very natural : it is obvious that the changing sky is added on a still image of landscape, otherwise trees or flowers must be shaked by the wind. It is very different in the last sequence with the flag. I suppose that this choice was made to avoid the blinking of landscape, very frequent in "time-lapse" because of changes in light (clouds). Another reason to do so : star trails are made with a dark sky and the landscape is generally almost black and appears in a "shadow" mode. Without any artificial light, landscape is lightened by the moon sooner or later in the night...

In any case, the result is very artificial.

[mitsy]

Enjoyed that. Thanks.

[pistre]

What a horrible noise !

[Ayiomamitis]

More of "time-lapses" in this video are not very natural : it is obvious that the changing sky is added on a still image of landscape,

For anyone who has physically done this kind of work, the "obvious" is NOT so obvious. If we keep the camera fixed, thus having a constant field of view during the sequence, you will get what Chris has produced. The animation is created by layering sequential still images and where the brightest pixel is now added, thus incorporating the latest still and which yields motion.

otherwise trees or flowers must be shaked by the wind.

Your underlying premise is flawed. If there is NO wind, there would be no shaking of trees or flowers.

It is very different in the last sequence with the flag.

The only thing different involving Lycabettus Hill and the waving flag is the presence of winds themselves on that particular afternoon.

I suppose that this choice was made to avoid the blinking of landscape, very frequent in "time-lapse" because of changes in light (clouds).

This is software-dependent and how we handle the transition from frame to frame in the animation.

Another reason to do so : star trails are made with a dark sky and the landscape is generally almost black and appears in a "shadow" mode. Without any artificial light, landscape is lightened by the moon sooner or later in the night...

I think you missed the point here. One needs lighting (ex. the young moon) so as to illuminate the foreground. Otherwise, under a dark sky, the foreground will be grossly underexposed (if at all visible). One can result to artificial means to lighting the foreground (such as a powerful flash) but the natural lighting provided by the moon is, in my opinion, the best means.

In any case, the result is very artificial.

This is unfortunate since such a result involves a serious amount of work!

Great job, Chris.

Anthony.

[Indigo_Sunrise]

I thought this video was very well done! And owlice, I agree: the 'raining stars' were pretty awesome!

And thank you, Ayiomamitis, for explaining some of the process on how this was done. (I was getting ready to repost what is fast becoming (in my mind) the APOD mantra: "If you don't like it, come back tomorrow." Or don't; we surely won't miss you!)

I especially liked the series where the stars appear to be rotating backwards - I'm assuming this is because the camera is pointing at the south celestial pole....?

Oh, and does anyone have a 'roundabout' way to view the images that are at the 'greeksky.gr' site? My work is denying access......

A very beautiful video!

[Ayiomamitis]

I especially liked the series where the stars appear to be rotating backwards - I'm assuming this is because the camera is pointing at the south celestial pole....?

When the camera is pointing west, thus catching the stars setting, we have a view similar to that involving the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion (in Chris' video) which does indeed seem like the stars are rotating backwards. We are so used to watching stars rise that anything else if almost abnormal.

Anthony.

[orin stepanek]

Well done; and very nice!

[snowwolf]

Almost perfect ... but the second sentence of the description says "star trials" instead of "star trails" ... ahh those typos!

[Lang]

Why was it necessary to underpin those pictures with blaring, banal pop music? I can't think of anything more at odds with the pictures than that.

[moonstruck]

Fantastic very well done Chris.

[Ailean4321]

Absolutely loved this!!
I really enjoy when the APODs are videos. Its a nice change, although I love the photos as well.
Does anyone know the date of the video that expands through the universe and then zooms back in to quantum level? I remember seeing it a while back and would like to watch it again.
Thanks!
I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

[Dustin]

Nice. Very soothing start to my morning Thanks.
I like the way the star trails look like a slow motion meteor storm.

[goodtime]

Would have loved to watch the whole thing but the background music was so bad I had to turn it off.

[geckzilla]

I guess vimeo's mute button isn't so obvious to everyone. It's the little blue vertical bars directly to the right of the play header bar. If you click to the left of those bars, it mutes the music. Anyway...

Close up of The Tree! Most APODded tree ever.

[geckzilla]

Does anyone know the date of the video that expands through the universe and then zooms back in to quantum level? I remember seeing it a while back and would like to watch it again.

Powers of Ten

[agulesin]

Almost perfect ... but the second sentence of the description says "star trials" instead of "star trails" ... ahh those typos!

They were testing the stars, auditioning them before they take part in another blockbuster to be released soon!

I couldn't watch it to the end, I think a little on the long side. and the music? well, that goes without saying...

PS Can anyone tell me what the link to "unfamiliar fashion http://www.baraskit.se/random/img/89/st ... hion/1.jpg" reveals? for some reason I couldn't get into it...

[terryantrim]

the best ever-4= yrs of viewing

[ChrisKotsiopoulos]

Thank you all for your kind words! This is the best possible result of more than two years of effort.


Alnilam I'm sorry you didn't like it. As my friend Anthony said it is a matter of process.
Have a look at the ship wreck startrails. You can actually see the tide at the little pool in front of the ship and the progressing startrail reflections.
See also this video and observe the Moon's shadow and the flowers move. Same video, different process:
http://vimeo.com/10158550

[Ailean4321]

Powers of Ten

much thanks!!

[Ailean4321]

Have a look at the ship wreck startrails. You can actually see the tide at the little pool in front of the ship and the progressing startrail reflections.

I noticed that. There is something about an old ship that captures my soul for some reason. Add that to stars and I'm completely enthralled. I think you did an awesome job! Thank you for your time and effort.

[geckzilla]

PS Can anyone tell me what the link to "unfamiliar fashion http://www.baraskit.se/random/img/89/st ... hion/1.jpg" reveals? for some reason I couldn't get into it...

It's this weird picture: