September 12, 1998
You were born on a tiny world orbiting an ordinary star in an unremarkable galaxy — and yet, the fact that you exist at all is the most...
Star Trails in Northern Skies
Birthday · September 12, 1998
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APOD published September 12, 1998. Credit: David Malin. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
As the Earth spins on its axis, the sky seems to rotate around us. This motion produces the beautiful concentric trails traced by the stars in this time exposure of the night sky. In the middle of the picture is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), easily identified as the point in the sky at the center of all the star trail arcs. The very short bright trail near the NCP was made by the star Polaris, commonly known as the North Star.
Image credit: David Malin