Lighting the Way

It’s a snowy evening near the summit of Maunakea, Hawai‘i. One would expect traversing a dark, snowy mountaintop to be frightening, but the photographer here reveals a different perspective. With the clever use of a long exposure, the summit is vividly illuminated by a wide array of light, showing several telescopes. Gemini North, half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, is situated at the center of the image. Long exposure times captures light streaks of passing vehicles, like the backlights of a car tracing the road leading to the summit, and the effect of Earth’s rotation, revealed by the stars sweeping in a circular motion around the celestial poles. With enough luck, it might even be possible to catch a meteor — like the one in the upper right quadrant of this image.