Loading...

This page describes an image Star Trails of the Forbidden City

Download this file from Zenodo ( image 4.12 MB)
This file's record on Zenodo

Image caption: Beneath the celestial ballet of star trails that weave their way across the night sky, the Beijing Forbidden City stands as a testament to ancient celestial connections in this image captured in March 2022. Designed with a cosmic alignment in mind, the palace echoes the orientation of the North Star, also known as Polaris, a celestial anchor that has long guided navigators and symbolised steadiness in the sky. It was believed that the Emperor embodied the earthly representation of this pole star, bridging the realms between heaven and earth. In this harmonious one-hour exposure captured with a smartphone, the streaks of stars trace their nightly journey across the firmament, converging toward the North Star, reflecting the precision of both architectural design and celestial paths.
Scroll to captions in other languages


Image credit: Stephanie Ziyi Ye/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10360019
Tags: astrophotography
Related glossary terms: Celestial Pole , Celestial Sphere , Circumpolar Stars , Navigation , North Celestial Pole (NCP) , Polaris

Image license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons

The media file captions presented on the OAE website were written, translated and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits for our translation project here. All media file captions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE". The media files themselves may have different licenses (see above) and should be credited as listed above under "credit".

If you notice a factual error in this caption or an error in any of its translations then please get in touch.

Captions in Different Languages:

German
Image caption: Unter dem himmlischen Ballett der Strichspuren von Sternen, die sich um den Nachthimmel winden, liegt in diesem Bild, das im März 2022 aufgenommen wurde, die Verbotene Stadt in Peking als Zeugnis alter himmlischer Verbindungen. Der Palast wurde nach kosmischen Gesichtspunkten entworfen und orientiert sich an der Ausrichtung des Polarsterns, der auch Polaris genannt wird: einem himmlischen Anker, der Seefahrern seit langem den Weg weist und die Stabilität des Himmel symbolisiert. Man glaubte, dass der Kaiser das irdische Abbild dieses Polarsterns verkörperte und die Brücke zwischen Himmel und Erde schlug. In dieser harmonischen einstündigen Belichtung, die mit einem Smartphone entstanden ist, zeichnen die Spuren der Sterne ihre nächtliche Reise über das Firmament um den Polarstern nach und geben die Präzision sowohl der architektonischen Gestaltung als auch der himmlischen Pfade wider.
Image credit: Stephanie Ziyi Ye/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
Related glossary terms: Himmelskugel , Himmelspol , Navigation , North Celestial Pole (NCP) , Polarstern , Zirkumpolarsterne
Caption translation status: Not yet approved by a reviewer
Caption translators: Carolin Liefke

Italian
Image caption: Menzione d'onore al concorso di astrofotografia IAU OAE 2023, categoria Immagini fisse con smartphone-dispositivi mobili: I Sentieri Stellari della città Proibita, di Stephanie Ziyi Ye.
Sotto il balletto celeste delle scie stellari che si intrecciano nel cielo notturno, la Città Proibita di Pechino si erge a testimonianza di antiche connessioni celesti in questa immagine catturata nel marzo 2022. Progettato tenendo conto dell'allineamento cosmico, il palazzo riprende l'orientamento della Stella Polare, un'ancora celeste che da tempo guida i navigatori e simboleggia la stabilità nel cielo. Si credeva che l'imperatore incarnasse la rappresentazione terrena di questa stella polare, facendo da ponte tra cielo e terra. In questa armoniosa esposizione di un'ora catturata con uno smartphone, le striature di stelle tracciano il loro viaggio notturno attraverso il firmamento, convergendo verso la Stella Polare, riflettendo la precisione sia del design architettonico che dei percorsi celesti. L'immagine riceve una menzione d'onore nella categoria Immagini fisse scattate esclusivamente con smartphone/dispositivi mobili.
Image credit: Stephanie Ziyi Ye/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
Related glossary terms: Navigazione , Polaris , Polo Celeste , Polo Nord Celeste (NCP) , Sfera celeste , Stelle circumpolari
Caption translation status: Not yet approved by a reviewer
Caption translators: Valentina La Parola

Simplified Chinese
Image caption: 2022 年 3 月拍摄的这张照片中,北京故宫矗立在星轨编织的夜空芭蕾之下,见证着古老的天体之间的联系。紫禁城在设计时考虑到了宇宙的排列,呼应了北极星的方位,北极星又叫 Polaris,是长期以来指引航海者的天体之锚,象征着天空的稳定。人们相信皇帝是北极星在人间的化身,是连接天地的桥梁。在这张用智能手机拍摄的和谐的一小时曝光照片中,星星的轨迹描绘了它们夜间穿越苍穹的旅程,它们向北极星汇聚,体现了建筑设计和天体轨迹的精确性。
Image credit: Stephanie Ziyi Ye/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
Related glossary terms: 北天极(NCP) , 北极星 , 天极 , 天球 , 导航 , 拱极星
Caption translation status: Approved by a reviewer
Caption translators: Xiao Jingyu
Caption reviewers: Wang Yilin

Traditional Chinese
Image caption: 2022 年 3 月拍攝的這張照片中,北京故宮矗立在星軌編織的夜空芭蕾之下,見證著古老的天體之間的聯繫。紫禁城在設計時考慮到了宇宙的排列,呼應了北極星的方位,北極星又叫 Polaris,是長期以來指引航海者的天體之錨,象徵著天空的穩定。人們相信皇帝是北極星在人間的化身,是連接天地的橋梁。在這張用智能手機拍攝的和諧的一小時曝光照片中,星星的軌跡描繪了它們夜間穿越蒼穹的旅程,它們向北極星匯聚,體現了建築設計和天體軌跡的精確性。
Image credit: Stephanie Ziyi Ye/IAU OAE (CC BY 4.0)
Related glossary terms: 北天極(NCP) , 北極星 , 天極 , 天球 , 導航 , 拱極星
Caption translation status: Approved by a reviewer
Caption translators: An automated transliteration from the simplified Chinese translation by - Xiao Jingyu