When cameras follow the paths of stars across the sky, they capture star trails, which look like glowing record grooves and give you a sense of the Earth's movement. Photographer Daniel Lowe spent two years collecting static images of star trails in western North Carolina, and collected them into one gorgeous video.

This photo isn't real, and not just because it's been squished. The circles up there are star trails completing a full orbit through the sky. That's never been photographed before...and you'll need to head to the Poles to do it.

The stars are always moving through the night sky, but the effect is so slow that it's hard to really grasp it. That's why there's this video, which throws in various Greek landmarks just to be even more ridiculously beautiful.

The "Star Trails" photo pool on Flickr is literally dizzying. People set up long-exposure shots or stacked photos on cloudless nights, and the result shows just how small we are against the hurtling stars. Here are a few humbling photos.

Photographing the movement of the stars takes time and patience, but a skilled photographer can capture the swirling heavens in a way the naked eye never could.