Cross-section of star trails (APOD 08 Dec 2007)
Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:20 pm
After looking at the APOD photo of a time-exposure of the night sky (08Dec07) which produced star trails, I was wondering if a cross-section of the trails would produce a method of identifying the stars as well as comparing what is in the sky from night to night.
By cross-section I mean a high-resolution narrow strip image perpendicular to the star trails which would look like a long row of dots. If you enlarged
these you would you be able to identify the object associated with each dot? I wondered what the difference would be between these "dot-strip" images taken at different times of the year? Also, would the spectrum of star trails change as you measured along a star's trail?
I hope this makes some sense.
By cross-section I mean a high-resolution narrow strip image perpendicular to the star trails which would look like a long row of dots. If you enlarged
these you would you be able to identify the object associated with each dot? I wondered what the difference would be between these "dot-strip" images taken at different times of the year? Also, would the spectrum of star trails change as you measured along a star's trail?
I hope this makes some sense.