Timelapse from Thierry Legault: One Night on the Pic-du-Midi Observatory

By Nancy Atkinson - September 4, 2012 at 9:50 PM UTC | Observing

Here's a really unique video from one of our favorite astrophotographers, Thierry Legault. Thierry sent us a full HD time-lapse of the full sky during one full night (August 7-8) over the Pic-du-Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees. At 2,877 meters in altitude, this is the highest observatory in France. The video is taken with a fisheye lens, and so the view creates what appears to be a tiny little world (Planet Pic-du-Midi, perhaps?). Visible are Saturn and Mars, then the Moon, Jupiter and Venus. And a passage of the ISS and an Iridium flare complete the planet-like scene. "The rotation of the sky around Polaris is easily noticeable," Thierry wrote to Universe Today, "as well as the movement of circumpolar constellations such as Big Dipper. The main dome is the 1-meter telescope, I was there with three friends to learn how to use this telescope for future planetary missions. This telescope was used in the 60's to prepare the Apollo lunar missions because of the quality of its optics and the very good seeing of this site."

The Pic-du-Midi Observatory has to be one of the most picturesque places in astronomy.

You can see a great view of it on Astronomy Picture of the Day.

The observatory has three domes that house a 0.6 meter telescope reserved for amateur astronomers, and a Sun-watching telescope called

CLIMSO

, along with the 1 meter telescope.

Thanks to Thierry for sharing this exceptional video, and as always, check out more of Thierry's work

at his website.

Nancy Atkinson

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