What you see is real, but you can't see it this way with the naked eye.

February 27, 2012 7:31 PM

Temporal Distortion "What you see is real, but you can't see it this way with the naked eye. It is the result of thousands of 20-30 second exposures, edited together to produce the time lapse. This allows you to see the Milky Way, Aurora and other Phenomena, in a way you wouldn't normally see them." More info here.
posted by HuronBob (18 comments total)

I've seen these before. They are awesome. If you can watch them on a big screen TV.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:36 PM on February 27, 2012

Previously. Previouslier.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:45 PM on February 27, 2012

What that thing that seems to explode into a dust cloud at about 0:52?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:46 PM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

There's not much in this world I wouldn't give to be able to see this with my naked eye.
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:46 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Evidently there is nothing new under the stars. :-\
posted by HuronBob at 7:47 PM on February 27, 2012

To be clear, I'm not saying it's a double. It's just more from the same guy, is all.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:48 PM on February 27, 2012

We had this discussion once before on a time lapse video, but I think I'd be just as happy with the camera stationary as moving. Occasionally the movement even rose to the point of being distracting.


But, with that said, this was cool.
posted by jepler at 7:50 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Beautiful!
posted by jquinby at 7:58 PM on February 27, 2012

jepler.. I agree with that, as the camera moved I was trying to figure out what the point was, and why it was worth the trouble to change the perspective...but, yes, it's cool anyway.
posted by HuronBob at 8:01 PM on February 27, 2012

i'll see you and raise you one time-lapse supernova ;)

What that thing that seems to explode into a dust cloud at about 0:52?
meteor. they'll often leave a dust trail that persists for up to many minutes, depending on size.
posted by sexyrobot at 8:09 PM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Clearly this is just a lie, like the dinosaurs, put here by satan to challenge our faith.
posted by KeSetAffinityThread at 8:09 PM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

I feel so ... significant.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:12 PM on February 27, 2012

Now I have to buy a high-def home planetarium.
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 8:18 PM on February 27, 2012

To my thinking the panning makes them extra cool.

Without the panning, the foreground image would be more like a cut-out silhouette. Like the curtains beside the moving pictures on a movie screen. With the panning, you get a sense of motion on earth as the earth spins in space with the backdrop of the Milky Way. It ties the heavens and the earth together as a dynamic pair.
posted by panaceanot at 8:48 PM on February 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

You know, Vimeo has some kind of filtering that YouTube lacks. Try this; do a search for some general interesting term like "timelapse" or "fractal" or "babies" and click on the "Couch Mode" icon at the upper right, and switch to fullscreen.

Really, there's hours of trippy fun there.
posted by twoleftfeet at 8:54 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sports, movies, games…whatever. This is what HDTVs were made for.
posted by DakotaPaul at 8:55 PM on February 27, 2012

I love the look of these videos and others like them. The "more info" link says the movement is supplied by the Zero Stage Dolly, but to really get panning and tilting (in addition to dollying) you need to get a motorized telescope mount. The motion controller for the dolly will also control the pan and tilt of the mount.
posted by DaddyNewt at 10:23 PM on February 27, 2012

Such rich imagery and what a chillingly beautiful soundtrack.
posted by Meatafoecure at 5:47 AM on February 28, 2012