September 20, 2013
The Earth has carried you around the Sun again, steady as ever, while the stars kept their patient watch.
Night at the Drive-in
Birthday · September 20, 2013
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published September 20, 2013. Credit: Chris Cook. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Colorful stars trail through this late summer, night skyscape from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The picture was composed by stacking 12 consecutive 1 minute long digital camera exposures to follow the trails, a reflection of our fair planet's daily rotation. It also records faint clouds of the Milky Way in the clear sky, stretching above a local drive-in movie theater. In fact, watching movies from cars at the drive-in was once a more common night time activity. But while the stars still shine, drive-in theaters have faded from the American landscape over the decades since the 1950s. Still, this recent scene includes a short exposure made as the projector beamed a space age image to the movie screen, and drive-in skygazers watched a view of the Earth below the International Space Station, under the stars above.
Image credit: Chris Cook