Explanation:
Gripped by an astronomical spring fever,
many northern hemisphere stargazers embark on
a
Messier Marathon.
Completing the marathon requires
viewing all 110 objects in 18th century French astronomer
Charles
Messier's catalog
in one glorious dusk-to-dawn observing run.
As daunting as it sounds, there are often favorable weekend
dates
for completing the task that fall on nearly moonless nights
near the March equinox.
This colorful, six hour long time exposure of a group
dedicated to running this year's Messier marathon includes celestial
star
trails along with terrestrial
lighting trails from about 200
amateur astronomers.
It was recorded from the isolated, ancient
Bahram
Palace in northern Iran's
Kavir National Park.
Astronomer and former Messier Marathon organizer for the
ASIAC Babak Tafreshi
offers this intriguing time-lapse movie
(2MB wmv file)
of the event.
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