Mezmerizing Time-Lapse Shows Off The Mysterious World of Radio Astronomy

Day after day, observatories around the world hunt for extraterrestrial life. While many use telescopes to seek out visual-based evidence, there are still a select few that utilize radio astronomy, a subfield of astronomy that listens into the frequencies spit onto Earth from the last frontier.

Three of these radio astronomy facilities were captured by astrophotographers Harun Mehmedinovic and Gavin Heffernan to create SKYGLOW: DISHDANCE, a mesmerizing time-lapse that not only captures mesmerizing imagery, but explores the effects and dangers of urban light pollution on our night sky.

The still images were shot at Very Large Array Observatory in New Mexico, Owens Valley Observatory in Owens Valley California and Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia – three observatories that have been used by the Search for the Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Program.

At three minutes long, the time-lapse is a visual feast, worthy of being watched many times over. If you’re wondering what the large object flying through the sky at roughly the 2:30 mark, the Sunchaser team says it was a meteorite from the Aquarids meteor shower.

To find out more about SKYGLOW Project, head on over to the project’s website. You can also pick up some products to support the crowdfunded cause.

[via Gizmodo]