A system comprising: a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor (106; 206) that includes a transmitter and a receiver, wherein the transmitter emits light pulses toward an environment of the LIDAR sensor, wherein the receiver detects reflections of the emitted light pulses, and wherein the LIDAR sensor scans the environment based on rotation of the LIDAR sensor about an axis (242; 342); one or more cameras (108; 208; 308) that detect external light originating from one or more external light sources, wherein the one or more cameras together provide a plurality of rows of sensing elements, and wherein each row of sensing elements is aligned with the axis of rotation of the LIDAR sensor; and a controller that operates the one or more cameras to obtain a sequence of image pixel rows, wherein a first image pixel row in the sequence is indicative of a measurement of the external light by a first row of sensing elements during a first exposure time period, and wherein a second image pixel row in the sequence is indicative of a measurement of the external light by a second row of sensing elements during a second exposure time period, wherein during the first exposure time period a field-of-view of the rotating LIDAR sensor at least partially overlaps a FOV imaged by the first row of sensing elements, and wherein during the second exposure time period a FOV of the rotating LIDAR sensor at least partially overlaps a FOV imaged by the second row of sensing elements, such that collection of the image pixels in the first and second image pixel rows is synchronized with collection of LIDAR data from the rotating LIDAR sensor. a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor (106; 206) that includes a transmitter and a receiver, wherein the transmitter emits light pulses toward an environment of the LIDAR sensor, wherein the receiver detects reflections of the emitted light pulses, and wherein the LIDAR sensor scans the environment based on rotation of the LIDAR sensor about an axis (242; 342); one or more cameras (108; 208; 308) that detect external light originating from one or more external light sources, wherein the one or more cameras together provide a plurality of rows of sensing elements, and wherein each row of sensing elements is aligned with the axis of rotation of the LIDAR sensor; and a controller that operates the one or more cameras to obtain a sequence of image pixel rows, wherein a first image pixel row in the sequence is indicative of a measurement of the external light by a first row of sensing elements during a first exposure time period, and wherein a second image pixel row in the sequence is indicative of a measurement of the external light by a second row of sensing elements during a second exposure time period, wherein during the first exposure time period a field-of-view of the rotating LIDAR sensor at least partially overlaps a FOV imaged by the first row of sensing elements, and wherein during the second exposure time period a FOV of the rotating LIDAR sensor at least partially overlaps a FOV imaged by the second row of sensing elements, such that collection of the image pixels in the first and second image pixel rows is synchronized with collection of LIDAR data from the rotating LIDAR sensor.