Hey kiddo! Have you ever seen a shooting star? Well, stars are pretty amazing, aren't they? Did you know that they move in the sky? No, not like a plane, but very slowly.
When we look at the night sky, we see many twinkling stars, but if we look closely, we can see that they are not in one fixed position. They move because the Earth is spinning on its axis.
Now imagine taking a long-exposure photograph of the night sky, meaning that the camera is capturing the light for a longer time than usual. When we do this, we can see that the stars have left a glowing line behind them. This line is called a star trail.
It is caused by the Earth's rotation, which makes the stars appear to move across the sky. And since the camera captures the light for a longer time, instead of seeing the normal, small points of light, we see the trails they have left behind.
It's pretty cool, right? And with a little patience and a lot of preparation, we can create stunning images of these star trails. So, keep your eyes on the sky, and maybe someday you can capture a star trail too!