Pine Tree Star Motion

The 4th winner of the International Earth & Sky Photo Contest in Beauties of Night Sky category. From the photographer: “I took this long exposure in 14 December 2009 In the middle of a pine forest, in a field, near the Atlantic Ocean, in Fonte-da-Telha, Portugal. In the image we can enjoy the Path of the planet Mars, as also the stars Regulus, Castor, Pollux, M45 (the Pleiades), Sirius, Betelgeuse, Rigel, and even the Orion Nebula (M42). The image was taken in the peak of the Geminids (meteor shower), so we can also see many little meteors, one of them near the trail of bright Sirius. In the center of the image is a pine tree and the trail at the bottom of the image is the light from a boat passing in the Atlantic Ocean.”