January 10, 2001
On the day you were born, the universe did what it has always done best: transformed chaos into beauty.
Watch the Sky Rotate
Birthday · January 10, 2001
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published January 10, 2001. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
If you could watch the sky for an entire night, what would you see? The above time-lapse sequence from the CONtinuous CAMera (CONCAM) project shows the answer for the skies above Kitt Peak National Observatory on 2000 December 23. First and foremost stars appear to orbit about Polaris, a star near the top of the image. Actually, the Earth is spinning under the sky, and the camera is affixed to the Earth. The diffuse band of light that moves across the image is actually the central disk of our Milky Way Galaxy. Identifiable objects rotating across the frame include the constellation of Orion, stars such as Sirius and Betelgeuse, and planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. The CONCAM project is deploying astronomical quality web-cameras to major observatories with goals of starting a continuous record of the sky and helping astronomers using large telescopes monitor weather conditions remotely.