APOD: 2026 August 28 – The Sky Turns Above Paranal
The post APOD: 2026 August 28 – The Sky Turns Above Paranal appeared first on NASA Science .
On August 28, 2026, the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) showcased a fascinating view of the night sky as seen from ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. At the observatory's location, approximately 25 degrees south of the equator, Earth's rotation causes the surface to move eastward at over 1,500 kilometers per hour – faster than the speed of sound at sea level. However, this motion is so rapid that it remains nearly imperceptible to the human eye.
To capture the subtle effects of Earth's rotation, the featured image was created by photographing star trails. The image was constructed from a digital stack of 300 consecutive 25-second exposures, all taken with a camera mounted on a tripod. This technique allowed the photographer to trace the arcs of the stars' apparent rotation in the night sky.
The star trail arcs in the image are centered around the south celestial pole, which represents the southern hemisphere extension of Earth's axis of rotation into space. One of Paranal Observatory's operating telescopes, the 1.8-meter auxiliary telescope AT 3, can be seen faintly illuminated beneath the south celestial pole in the foreground of the photograph.
The graceful, concentric arcs of the star trails provide a stunning visual representation of the planet's rotation and the beauty of the night sky from Paranal Observatory.
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- APOD: 2026 August 28 – The Sky Turns Above Paranal science.nasa.gov
