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Birthday · May 16, 2011

Time Lapse Clouds and Sky Over the Canary Islands

May 16, 2011

Your birthday marks the moment a small planet circling a modest star gained another witness to its wonders.

Time Lapse Clouds and Sky Over the Canary Islands

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APOD published May 16, 2011 · Video still. Credit: Daniel López. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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Time Lapse Clouds and Sky Over the Canary Islands

Original APOD · May 16, 2011

If you could sit back and watch clouds and the sky move all night and day, what might you see? One answer from the island of Tenerife, captured over the course of the year, includes sequences that are not only breathtaking but instructive. Visible in the above time-lapse movie include clouds that seem to flow like water, a setting sun that shows numerous green flashes, the Milky Way Galaxy rising behind towering plants, a colorful double fogbow, lenticular clouds that appear stationary near their mountain peaks, and colorful moon coronas. The above video was shot solely from the Teide National Park on Tenerife in the Canary Islands of Spain, off the north west coast of Africa. The video also features an unusual type of plant in several scenes -- can you identify it?

Image credit: Daniel López

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