Far from starscape-dulling city lights, farmer and photographer Randy Halverson spent three weeks creating a new video of the spinning night sky.

Shot from his central South Dakota farm, the video (above) features the Milky Way, which appears to our eyes as a fuzzy band but is actually an an edge-on view of dust lit by billions of stars. Summer is the prime season for North Americans to catch the Milky Way.

“Now is the first good time of the year to go out and see it, and maybe the best,” said Halverson. “There’s not as many mosquitoes, it isn’t too muggy and the rattlesnakes aren’t around. Those can be trouble.”

Battling strong winds and clouds, Halverson used a robotic camera rig to snap hundreds of still photos in about 20 three- to four-hour shoots. Back at his computer, he stitched together images from the best shoots. Each second of the video spans about 14 minutes of actual time.

As the Earth spins, the stars appear to spin with it. Longer exposures make them appear as streaks. Zooming airplanes, sunlight reflecting off satellites, and a ruddy orange glow from the town of Winner, South Dakota some 40 miles away are visible in the footage.

Video: Randy Halverson/Dakotalapse.com

Image: Randy Halverson

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