Canon 60Da Star Trail Astrophotography — Night Sky Rotation, Time, and the Direction of Clocks

This star trail image was captured in Upstate New York using a fixed tripod and a series of long exposures. Unlike minimalist nightscapes, star trail astrophotography requires significantly more post-processing. By stacking multiple exposures, it allows the motion of the stars — the rotation of the sky — to become visible.

Canon EOS 60Da, Canon EF 16–35mm f/2.8L II USM
Fixed tripod, dew heater
37 images · 2 minutes each · ISO 400 · f/4.0

Canon 60Da Star Trail Astrophotography - Upstate New York

Instead of a single very long exposure, this image was created by stacking multiple shorter exposures. A single exposure of this total duration would have been far too bright and noisy. To combine the frames, I used StarStax, followed by additional processing in Photoshop.

StarStax — stacking multiple exposures into star trails

For the final image I used the Star Spikes filter.

StarSpikes Pro for Startrails

From this image, it is easy to see that the stars rotate in a counterclockwise direction. This naturally raises an interesting question.

Why do the stars rotate counterclockwise, while the hands of a clock move clockwise?

The answer is astronomical — but not in an obvious way. To understand it, we have to look at history. Mechanical clocks were designed to follow the motion of a sundial, but not the motion of the Sun itself. They follow the direction of the shadow cast by the Sun, which moves in the opposite direction to the apparent rotation of the night sky.

In other words, when we look at a clock, we are not “following the Sun” — we are following the shadow of the Sun.

This is why I like astrophotography. Even a technically complex image can lead to unexpected questions — about time, history, human conventions, and how we learned to measure the world.

“The photograph comes first; the philosophy follows — as a way to understand what the image revealed.”

Related Astrophotography Posts

This star trail image connects both technical exploration of the Canon 60Da and a broader philosophical approach to astrophotography — where images lead to questions about time, motion, and meaning.

• Canon 60Da Milky Way Astrophotography — Catskill Mountains, New York
  Early testing of the Canon 60Da and its sensitivity to faint night sky details
• Unintentional Camera Movement Astrophotography
  Motion, perception, and science-fiction associations in night photography
• Drive Safely Between the Milky Way and the Haystack
  A minimalist, philosophical nightscape where photography becomes reflection