Astrophoto: Star Trails from Italy

By Nancy Atkinson - June 18, 2012 at 2:31 PM UTC | Observing

Caption: 'Cerchi di stelle' -- Circles of stars. Credit: Gerlos on Flickr.

This beautiful view of star trails was captured by Gerlos on Flickr, as seen in the skies over Petralia, Sottana, Sicily, Italy on June 16, 2012. Gerlos said the image is a "composition of 363 shots (+10 dark frames) taken for 25 seconds every 30 seconds between 1:55 and 4:23 at f / 4 and ISO 1600 with Canon 550D, EF-S 18-55 lens + extra wide field Opteka 0.45 HD². Images acquired using the function of the interval Magic Lantern and made using

StarStax

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you're giving us permission to post them). Please explain what's in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

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