First time Astrographer turns our Galazy into a 360 panorama

mrk · 4 May 2011 at 02:48

Nick Risinger, a 28-year-old native of Seattle, trekked more than 60,000 miles around the western United States and South Africa to create the largest-ever true-color image of the stellar sphere. The final result is an interactive, zoomable sky map showing the full Milky Way and the stars, planets, galaxies and nebulae around it.

“The genesis of this was to educate and enlighten people about the natural beauty that is hidden, but surrounds us,” Risinger said.

Read the whole article @ Wired and then see the interactive pano for yourself @ Skysurvey

Pro-Tip:
Screengrab a section or two (or three) and make them into a desktop wallpaper which looks amazing

The coolest bit? anyone can get the same result if they can get to the darkest parts of the sky! (well, to a degree anyway

)

Grandmaster Fap! · 4 May 2011 at 02:54

Absolutely stunning, thanks for posting :cool:

Pighardia · 4 May 2011 at 03:01

Very nice and a great achievement, you need some serious gear to get anywhere near that quality.

Also, two quotes i found interesting

images by a first-time astrophotographer

The project began in March 2010, when Risinger and his brother took a suite of six professional-grade astronomical cameras to the desert in Nevada.

Good going for a 'first timer'

ThePirateHulk · 4 May 2011 at 03:01

Magnificent!

Azza · 4 May 2011 at 03:07

That is brilliant! Thanks for sharing.

G-MAN2004 · 4 May 2011 at 03:09

Wow, awesome. Thanks. :cool:

Spook187 · 4 May 2011 at 03:10

Tidy nice find,and not a god in sight

Marine Iguana · 4 May 2011 at 03:12

Beautiful

Tummy · 4 May 2011 at 03:41

Awesome! Thanks

benneh · 4 May 2011 at 04:53

Cosimo · 4 May 2011 at 07:38

That's cool.

Dokinator · 4 May 2011 at 07:42

I can see me

neil3k · 4 May 2011 at 08:19

Spook187 said:
Tidy nice find,and not a god in sight

Thats cos god is invisible innit dum dum

SMN · 4 May 2011 at 08:27

Awesome find OP.

NickK · 4 May 2011 at 08:31

FLI are a tad expensive but the mount that all 6 cameras is mounted out (lulz) looks like a modified EQ6 which is budget level at around £800-1000. There's not that much detail if you attempt to zoom in, so it's all really widefield stuff.

Creelers · 4 May 2011 at 08:35

That's amazing.

LateX'Dog · 4 May 2011 at 08:59

Amazing, thanks for sharing.

Mushroom_Chimp · 4 May 2011 at 09:35

This is amazing thanks a lot for sharing

ScarySquirrel · 4 May 2011 at 11:19

Wow that is incredible.

Quick question, if you were actually out in space, do you see all the nice colours of red and blue and stuff? Or is that just post processing to show various radio waves/rays of some type (I hope that doesn't sound completely stupid)?

If so, is space just completely black? Or can you actually see stuff? (again, I hope that doesn't make me sound completely retarded)

mrk · 4 May 2011 at 11:25

This might explain it in some detail

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/cosmic/index.shtml