Lights of the Night Show

Laser light and star trails combine for a cosmic light show at Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory which is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, on Maunakea in Hawai‘i. This scene was created by combining multiple timelapse images. 

In the foreground sits Gemini North, situated near the highest point in the Pacific Basin at an altitude of 4213 meters (13,822 feet). The orange streaks were created by Gemini’s Laser Guide Star (LGS) system at several different observing positions. The laser creates an ‘artificial star’ by interacting with atoms in the upper atmosphere approximately 90 kilometers (50 miles) above the Earth. Earth’s atmosphere distorts light from the laser-created ‘star’, just as it distorts the light from objects under study. By measuring these distortions, Gemini’s adaptive optics system can correct for them in the telescope’s science observations, resulting in crisper, clearer views of the Universe for astronomers. 

In the background, stars swirl around Polaris, the northern hemisphere’s pole star. As Earth rotates over the course of a night, stars seem to circle the celestial poles, showing up as trails in long-exposure photographic images.