An astronomy student at Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii took some time off from his work to share the experience of being on the summit, gazing at the telescopes. The result is a nearly three-minute long time lapse video that makes you feel like you’re standing right next to those observatories.
Watching the telescopes move by day is mesmerizing enough, but stick around a few seconds and then you will see galaxies, stars and other cosmic sights pop into view — right behind the observatories that are looking at the same things.
“This montage was filmed on three nights in April (I was observing on one of the telescopes and would walk outside when things got boring) and four nights during summer 2013,” wrote Sean Goebel on the Vimeo page hosting the video. You can check out more of his timelapse photography at this website.