This beautiful video took over a year to put together in 2009 and 2010, and it's made up of over 30 hours of exposure. Shot from the southern coast of Australia, it provides an awe-inspiring view of the southern constellations.


This video is the work of photographer and amateur astronomer Alex Cherney, who created it as part of his Terrastro Gallery. This particular video, which features music by Redmann, won an award at the STARMUS astrophotography competition. Here's a description of what to look for in the video, courtesy of NASA:

Clouds and sky both show illuminating changes during this time lapse video from the south of Australia. In the foreground are scenes visible over a rocky coastline toward the Southern Ocean. Dark clouds flow across the sky, sometimes from different directions, sometimes blocking background starlight, but other times causing stars to appear to flare as they move in front. In the first sequence, looking toward the southwest, a nearly vertical band of zodiacal light is seen at sunset just before the band of the Milky Way Galaxy appears to settle into the sea. Soon the unusual dark patch of the Coal Sack Nebula can be seen on the Milky Way band, near the famous Southern Cross. Later, looking toward the southeast at about 2:10 in the video, Orion can be seen rising appearing nearly perpendicular to how it rises in northern skies.


Via NASA.