Star trails over University of Denver's Chamberlain Observatory

Taken Wednesday, May 29, 2014 on a night with no clouds and a new moon. The star trails are created by a series of 240 exposures each 25 seconds in duration. Along the way, I chose a moment to light paint the observatory with a dual xenon bulb flash light to bring out some color of the trees and the observatory itself. Without the light-painting, the shot would have been very, very dark. I didn't expect the observatory to be active on this night, but a team of astronomers worked on this night making my post processing a bit difficult since they opened and rotated the dome several times during my timed exposures. But, I had already decided to do this as a composite image which was a very good thing. This shot CANNOT be done in a single exposure. And, luckily, the sprinklers in the park that began turning on during the shoot did not affect me, just made me very nervous! Todd