Brilliant 360-Degree Panorama of the Milky Way

You can see the entire Milky Way at once in this panorama painstakingly stitched together by French photographers.

Working in the dark, dry highlands of Chile with a Nikon D3 digital camera (50 mm lens open at f5.6), Serge Brunier and Frédéric Tapissier patched together 1,200 photos of the night sky into the composite that you see

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/375e10667559.jpg[/atsimg]

Link to article: Brilliant 360-Degree Panorama of the Milky Way

Thought ATS might enjoy this, I certianly did! Space is so beautiful, as the hubble has been showing us for a long time now.



I just hope I am around once to see the day we reach one of the billions of stars (or Mars for that matter).

Enjoy!
-E-

[edit on 14-9-2009 by MysterE]

That is fascinating! What a view. Thanks so much for sharing this, I'd not seen it before.

Anyone who happens to land on this thread and doesn't go to the link or play the embedded feature for the full effect is doing themselves a disservice.

I see the edge of the Milky Way nearly every night.......... still amazes me the incredible distances between stars and yet the density is such -- from our perspective -- that we see it as nearly a solid feature in the sky.

Much appreciated!

reply to post by argentus


Thanks for the kind words argentus. I remember a time when I was young, camping with my father at a park absent of light pollution. I was absolutely amazed at the number of stars I could see that the view from the city could not provide. I think that is were my fascination with the universe began.

-E-

reply to post by MysterE


I'm pretty surprised that this seems to be a mostly unseen thread so far. Well, sometimes positive threads take a moment in betwixt the doom to manifest themselves.

Last Novemeber, we were hit by a bad hurricane -- Paloma, Cat 4/5. We've always had good "seeing", given that this is a 12 mile X 2 mile island away from everything, with no industry.

Afer the hurricane was wonderous in the sense of seeing the sky. Trees knocked down/defoliated, and no lights at all. Nobody was killed, and the sky viewing seemed like a little gem amidst all the devistation.

When they put up the streetlight out front, I was saddened, as I'd never realized prior to the hurricane how much that single light changed the seeing.

Do you know that the power company actually painted around the exterior of the light in black opaque high-temp paint such that it just shines down and not out? What a blessing. When I go outside -- assuming it's not cloudy -- it is wonderous.

I see the presentation in your OP, and it makes me long to be able to bring in 1/100 of that level of resolution, but it's enough to be able to see the Milky Way edge and other celetial features regularly and clear. I check heavens-above.com almost every night for the ISS and other satellites, even do some NV filming.

I think sometimes we forget the wonder of the basic things -- sights that people may have to travel to see, but are affordable for nearly everyone. Me, I like feeling small and insignificant when compare to the glory of it all out there. It feels right.

reply to post by argentus


Well said argentus, I appreciate your candor. Welcome to my friends list!

-E-


[edit on 14-9-2009 by MysterE]

I've always wondered (and maybe someone knows the answer), these pictures that the Hubble takes, would that actually be what our eyes would see if we were flying by these things in person. The incredible vivid colors and copious amounts of light, is that truly what we would see, or is it simply an exaggeration due to the long exposure times that the Hubble uses?

Obviously, when you look at the Milky Way from earth, it's very dim (even in places with near 0 light pollution). Would it also appear fairly dim even if you were looking at it from space?

So while the universe is incredibly beautiful, it might be that the long exposures and coloration used by our various telescope technologies are what make it appear so breathtaking.

Very nice These sort of pics always tend to make me feel like we all live on something the size of a grain of sand in comparison

reply to post by paradigm619


Good question. I woould assume that the light wouldn't be as brilliant, but i'm certianly not an expert.

-E-

You can see the Milky Way at night, best in summer I think.
Imagine there is no one out there.
You feel so lonely.
Gods way of making you want Him.
Tesla tried contact but nothing was found except Earth vibrations.

reply to post by paradigm619


The answer. sadly, is no. Supernovas photos, which i'm sure you are referring to, are compilations of several images taken at different types of different wavelengths of light and radiation.