Stars circle the north pole as the earth turns in this fixed-tripod exposure. The brightest two trails in the upper left are from the two stars that form the front of the "pan" of the "Little Dipper". Polaris, the North Star, is below center near the middle of the circles. The colors of the trails reflect the stars' surface temperatures.

219 30-second exposures with a Canon 40D 17mm f2.8 spanning 2 hours starting at 10:38 p.m. EDT on 2008-07-02 from northern New Jersey. ©2008