Stairway to the Stars

In this image it looks as though you could run up this white stair-like path and dive straight into a rippling pool of stars. In fact, the steep structure is the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, based at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The swirling effect of the stars is the result of a clever astrophotography technique, where an extremely long exposure is used to take an image. In this case, however, multiple short exposures were captured and combined in post-processing. Over several hours, the rotation of the Earth produces an imaging effect called star trails which record the motion of the stars across the sky. The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope is no longer observing the Sun, but the interior of the facility is currently being renovated to become the Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach.