Incredible Time-Lapse Stabilized Video Demonstrates Earth’s Rotation [Watch]

Using special equipment, a photographer was able to create a time-lapse video showing the Earth’s rotation. The video is set against a backdrop of the Milky Way galaxy and its band of stars.

The video was made by photographer Eric Brummel from San Francisco. It was recorded at Font’s Point in California’s Anza-Borrego Desert. The short clip features time-lapse footage of the desert landscape as the Earth rotates against a brightly-lit sky.

According to Brummel, the video was made possible using stabilizing equipment known as an equatorial mount. This is basically a motorized tripod that can track the movements of cosmic objects in the sky. It is able to do so by keeping track of the speed of the Earth’s rotation, allowing the mounted camera to rotate in the opposite direction.

Without the equatorial mount, the camera will rotate along with the Earth, which would make the footage just like any other time-lapse video.

Although not much is going on in the video besides showing Earth as it tilts away, it provides a fascinating glimpse of the planet’s movement as its background stays perfectly still.

As explained by Brummel, the purpose of the video is to highlight Earth’s rotation and not that of the sky. Although this is naturally what’s happening, the photographer noted that the planet’s movement is rarely captured on film.

“Here's a clip from a short time-lapse film I have in the works,” Brummel wrote in the video’s description on YouTube. “The purpose of the film will be to highlight that it's the Earth that rotates, not the sky. We all *know* that's the case, but we don't really perceive it that way.”

Aside from the stabilized time-lapse video, Brummel’s other works featured on his website also highlight the beauty of the Milky Way galaxy as seen from Earth. Some of these were taken at various areas in California such as the Joshua Tree National Park, the Trona Pinnacles and Patriarch Grove. Brummel was also able to take a stunning photo of a blood moon as well as a meteor shower over towering mountains.