Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2011 shortlist – in pictures
Equinox by Juan Carlos Casado. This time-lapse image shows the rotation of the Earth from the vantage point of Ecuador on the day of the Equinox in 2010. As the sun passed overhead then sank into the west it burned a bright path across the middle of the sky in this long-exposure image. Then, as the sky darkened, the stars became visible, the Earth’s spin making them trace their own circular paths about the north and south celestial poles