Celestial Trajectories: Night at the Observatory

Featuring the observation dome of the Zuo Dijiang Observatory as the foreground, this image was captured through nearly an hour of continuous exposure. The stars left perfect arcs across the frame, illustrating the diurnal motion of the celestial sphere.

The dome, acting as a window for planetary science research, stands in dialogue with the everlasting stellar trajectories in the background. With the North Celestial Pole (NCP) guiding from the upper corner, the image reveals the grand scale of Earth as a rotating inertial frame.

Zuo Dijiang Observatory, NJU | Diurnal Motion of the Celestial Sphere