As something of a palate-cleanser -- along the lines of Boing Boing's famous unicorn chasers -- here is a magnificent time lapse video of the sky over Australia: Ocean Sky by Alex Cherney:
[embed width="610"]http://vimeo.com/24253126[/embed]
Due to the tilt of the Earth and geometry of the Sun-Earth-galaxy alignment, the Milky Way only gets high in the sky if you're south of the Equator, and can set parallel to the horizon as seen in these shots. When I was in Australia many years ago I didn't get a good look at it, and one day I swear I'll be there on a clear night with it near the zenith. Sigh. My favorite part of this video is at 2:15, when the clouds clear and Orion booms into view... upside down, as far as my northern hemisphere bias sees it. That really freaked me out when I was down there. Of course, it's always good to get your complacent view shaken sometimes.
Tip o' the Mintie to Wired Science.
Related posts: - Time lapse video: from North Carolina to the galactic center - Gorgeous Milky Way Time Lapse - Incredibly, impossibly beautiful time lapse video - Dust, from the desert below to the galaxy above - OK, because I like y'all: bonus aurora timelapse video - AWESOME timelapse video: Rapture
