Mapping the night sky - a stunning time lapse series

These are some absolutely stunning night sky compilations put together by Randy Halverson at DakotaLapse.com After watching every video on his site in "near awe", I just had to post these videos and links.



Milky Way preview from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.


These really are so visually stunning, they lead me to rethink the nature of the night sky & why we should always "look up to the heavens" for a different, perhaps more humbling, point of view.


Sub Zero - winter night time-lapse from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.


From his site feed:


" ... During the month of May, I shot Milky Way time-lapse in central South Dakota when I had the time, and the weather cooperated. The biggest challenge was cloudy nights and the wind. There were very few nights, when I could shoot, that were perfectly clear, and often the wind was blowing 25mph +. That made it hard to get the shots I wanted. I kept most of the shots low to the ground, so the wind wouldn’t catch the setup and cause camera shake, or blow it over. I used a Stage Zero Dolly on the dolly shots and a “Milapse” mount on the panning ones.

This was all shot at night. If you see stars and it looks like daylight, it is actually moon light. 20+ second exposures make it look like daylight..."

More at the page link to Plains Milk Way

Cool Geo-Pic: Stratosphere Influences Winter Weather

Another Cool Geo-Pic from NASA's Earth Obervatory, Stratosphere Influences Winter Weather

The video compares wind & weather inter-dependence at different elevations. A nice parallel of what "happens below begins from above".

Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:

" ...The lower pair of images represent the air mass, or polar vortex, that controls the wind pattern. Essentially, the winds are strongest at the edge of the polar vortex (where the pressure difference between the air masses is greatest). The area of red in the lower left image represents polar air that typically sits over the Arctic during January.

In general, strong winds circle the red regions, or areas of high vorticity, in a counterclockwise direction. These winds, moving at speeds well above 100 miles per hour, influence winds and weather patterns closer to Earth’s surface. Their influence means that weather in England and Western Europe typically comes from the west. Over England, western winds blow in ocean air warmed by the Atlantic Gulf Stream.... "

Full Article - Click Here

Full video - Click Here

References / Credits:

Full Credit to NASA's Earth Observatory. Data provided by the Goddard Modeling and Assimilation Office, courtesy of Paul Newman. Caption by Holli Riebeek with information provided by Paul Newman.