Star Trails From Mauna Kea Observatory - Photo Gallery 1
©2011 by Fred Espenak. All rights reserved.
Mauna Kea Observatory (MKO) is located near the 4205m (13,800ft) summit of Mauna Kea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Recognized as one of the world's premier astronomical research facilities, MKO is an international collection of independent observatories. Hawaii's isolation in the mid-Pacific Ocean and the high elevation of Mauna Kea makes it one of the best locations on Earth for ground-based astronomy.
I've made many trips to Mauna Kea to use the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). This gave me plenty of opportunities to shoot long time exposures at night and capture the graceful arcs of the stars and planets as they rise and set.
The following photo gallery presents a collection of star trail photographs made from Mauna Kea Observatory. A second set of photos can be found in Mauna Kea Star Trails Gallery 2.
Click on each thumbnail to see a larger image.
