{"id":125929,"date":"2019-08-07T09:41:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T13:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=125929"},"modified":"2024-07-08T14:41:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T18:41:11","slug":"video-whats-in-the-starry-maine-sky-over-the-bates-coastal-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2019\/08\/07\/video-whats-in-the-starry-maine-sky-over-the-bates-coastal-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: What can you see in the starry Maine sky on a summer night?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the summer sun set over Meetinghouse Pond in Phippsburg, Maine, on July 29, the show got started.<\/p>\n<p>This time-lapse video, filmed at the college\u2019s Coastal Center at Shortridge by Bates photographer Theophil Syslo, kicks off with the afternoon sun barreling toward the western horizon.<\/p>\n<p>After a fade to black, the video picks up again around 11 p.m. with the viewer looking south. The camera then pans to the west and then north. The segment ends around 1 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>All the while, the sky appears to rotate, due to the Earth\u2019s rotation. (The camera itself is moving and rotating, too, thanks to Syslo\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kesslercrane.com\/second-shooter-plus\"> three-axis setup<\/a>.) The 22-second video comprises hundreds of still images taken 40 seconds apart. The night images were taken with a 30-second exposure to effectively capture starlight.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #009779;\"><em>This time-lapse video begins with the sun setting over Meetinghouse Pond on July 29. Then the night show gets started.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Timelapse of the Night Sky | Meetinghouse Pond at The Coastal Center at Shortridge\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QW4di0odIrw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s cool!\u201d said Assistant Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic after viewing the video.<\/p>\n<p>He said more, in fact. A researcher who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2018\/09\/28\/40000-feet-in-the-air-a-bates-professor-and-students-observe-a-distant-galaxy\/\">studies the interactions of gas within galaxies,<\/a>\u00a0Diamond-Stanic offered to be our guide to the Maine sky. (For help identifying planets, stars, and constellations, he recommends this\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyandtelescope.com\/interactive-sky-chart\/\">interactive sky chart<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>At the video&#8217;s 10-second mark, Diamond-Stanic notes that \u201cthe Milky Way extends across the sky, more or less vertically, from the constellation Sagittarius, near the horizon, to the constellation Sagitta, near the top of the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also prominent, he says, is Jupiter, \u201cto the right of the Milky Way, lower in the sky, a bit above the star Antares. Saturn is visible to the left of the Milky Way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At around the 20-second mark \u2014 nearing midnight \u2014 \u201cwe see the blue star Vega high in the sky, while Jupiter disappears from our field of view,&#8221; he says. Meanwhile, low in the sky at right is the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). \u201cWe see the star Arcturus about to set below the horizon,\u201d and, since the view is now to the north, \u201cthe North Star (Polaris) is at top right.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_125946\" style=\"width: 1929px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190729_Shortridge_1494-illustrated1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-125946\" class=\"wp-image-125946 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190729_Shortridge_1494-illustrated1.jpg\" alt=\"Four items In the night sky above the Coastal Center at Shortidge: (1) is the Milky Way, (2) is Jupiter, (3) is the trail of a passenger jet with red dots indicating its flashing beacon, and (4) is light from the city of Portland, made prominent by the long image exposure. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)\" width=\"1919\" height=\"1279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190729_Shortridge_1494-illustrated1.jpg 1919w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190729_Shortridge_1494-illustrated1-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190729_Shortridge_1494-illustrated1-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190729_Shortridge_1494-illustrated1-200x133.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-125946\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Four items in the night sky above the Coastal Center at Shortridge; (1) the Milky Way; (2) Jupiter; (3) the trail of a passenger jet during the 30 seconds of the image exposure, with red dots indicating its flashing beacon; and (4) light from the city of Portland, made prominent by the long exposure. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Besides heavenly bodies, viewers of the video can see occasional streaks of light. Those aren\u2019t meteors but the paths of passenger planes with their beacons flashing, likely heading toward Europe.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, the nighttime skies over Maine are a popular route for jets traveling east toward Europe. And in the morning, jets often pass overhead traveling west, arriving from Europe. (U.S. airlines typically fly more overnight routes to Europe so their planes can make return flights on the day they arrive.)<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the diffuse light seen on the western horizon comes from the city of Portland, about 25 miles down the coast. While Maine has some of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2018\/05\/20\/let-there-be-dark-advocates-push-maine-as-astrotourism-destination\/\">darkest skies in the country<\/a> \u2014 perfect for stargazing \u2014 light pollution worldwide continues to increase. It&#8217;s becoming \u201cdifficult for people to be able to see and appreciate the beauty of the dark night sky,\u201d says Diamond-Stanic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe clear view of the night sky shown in this time lapse motivates human curiosity about our place in the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_125944\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/170607_Physics_Object_Diamond_Stanic_0307-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-125944\" class=\"wp-image-125944 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/170607_Physics_Object_Diamond_Stanic_0307-1-900x809.jpg\" alt=\"Seen in 2017, Assistant Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic works with Jose Ruiz '19, who graduated in May with a physics degree. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)\" width=\"900\" height=\"809\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/170607_Physics_Object_Diamond_Stanic_0307-1-900x809.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/170607_Physics_Object_Diamond_Stanic_0307-1-334x300.jpg 334w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/170607_Physics_Object_Diamond_Stanic_0307-1-200x180.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/170607_Physics_Object_Diamond_Stanic_0307-1.jpg 1919w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-125944\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Seen in 2017, Assistant Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic works with <span lang=\"en\" tabindex=\"0\">Jos\u00e9<\/span> Ruiz &#8217;19, who graduated in May with a physics degree. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>About an hour\u2019s drive from campus in Phippsburg, the Bates College Coastal Center at Shortridge sits on 80 acres of woodlands and wetlands. The center provides residential support for academic programs and extracurricular activities, including facilities for field research, meetings, retreats, and conferences.<\/p>\n<p>Adjacent to the center is Bates\u2013Morse Mountain Conservation Area, comprising some 600 acres of permanently protected salt marshes and coastal uplands that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2015\/08\/28\/day-with-students-geologists\/\">Bates manages for research and educational purposes.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This time-lapse video, filmed at the college\u2019s Coastal Center at Shortridge, kicks off with sun barreling toward the western horizon. Then the show begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":125971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,32,217],"tags":[11368,11983,10857],"class_list":["post-125929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-maine-and-new-england","category-science-technology","tag-aleksandar-diamond-stanic","tag-bates-coastal-center-at-shortridge","tag-bates-morse-mountain-conservation-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125929"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126018,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125929\/revisions\/126018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}