Timelapse: The Stars of Northern Thailand

By Nancy Atkinson - December 28, 2012 05:59 PM UTC | Observing

Photographer Teoh Hui Chieh from Malaysia created a beautiful timelapse of the night sky in Northern Thailand, and she was excited to see the North Star. "Polaris may be very common for people like you in the northern hemisphere," she said via email, "but to us at the equator, it's something that we don't see everyday."

The timelapse was taken over the course of 3 nights: 2 nights on a rooftop in Nan, and 1 night in Doiphukha National Park. It includes a combination of stars moving across sky along with views of the local terrain, along with gorgeous star trails.

"The last night in the National Park, the surrounding area was full of trees, but I was lucky to find a "hole" to capture Polaris," Chieh said. The Andromeda Galaxy is also visible in the video starting at 1:30 and 2:00.

Rare views of Polaris from northern Thailand. Credit: Teoh Hui Chieh

See more of Chieh's work at his blog,

My Dark Sky.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com