Live Science by Stephanie Pappas 12/14/2020
Eight years and one month ago, a Master of Fine Art student at the University of Hertfordshire fitted a beer can with photographic paper and created a low-tech
pinhole camera. She then placed the can on a telescope at the university's Bayfordbury Observatory and eventually forgot about the project.
Now, the resulting photograph has been rediscovered — and it may be the longest-exposure photo ever taken.
"I had tried this technique a couple of times at the Observatory before, but the photographs were often ruined by moisture and the photographic paper curled up," photographer Regina Valkenborgh, now a photography technician at Barnet and Southgate College, said in a statement. "I hadn't intended to capture an exposure for this length of time and to my surprise, it had survived."
The photograph shows the sun's journey through the sky since 2012; 2,953 arcs of light tracing its path as the sun rose and set. Part of the telescope's dome is also visible at the left of the photograph. On the right is a gantry structure designed to straddle the observatory, which was built halfway through the exposure.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/longest-exposure-photo-discovered-beer-can.html
This image shows 2,953 arced trails of the sun, as it rose and fell over a period of eight years and one month.
(Image: © Regina Valkenborgh/University of Hertfordshire)
