Bad Astronomy

Time lapse: The Wagging Pole - Night Watch

Graham Gaunt is a photographer who sent me this time lapse video he made of the skies over Cornwall, UK. It’s not remarkable so much for the photography – which is quite lovely – but because in the extreme southwest UK summer nights, according to Graham, tend to be cloudy.

I like the shots of the stars through the clouds; the difference in relative motion is somehow both eerie and soothing. The familiar sight of Orion, the Pleiades, Taurus, and Sirius coming in at about 1:20 is quite nice.

The thing is… “Wagging Pole”? I asked Graham what it means. At about a minute in, keep your eyes on the third power line pole down the road. It moves, wagging around! He said it was in a loose hole, but when he first saw it it freaked him out a little, so he decided to give it title billing.

Related posts:

- Stunning Finnish aurora time lapse
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- Another jaw-dropping time lapse video: Tempest
- Time lapse: Journey Through Canyons
- Down under Milky Way time lapse
- Alps lapse