The Night Sky As You Have Never Seen It Before (Must See To Believe)

Gate ^ | 7/13/11

[OneVike]

This is a stunning 360 degree panorama of the night sky that was stitched together from 37,000 images by Nick Risinger, a native of Seattle.  Nick 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 Milky Way as it has never been seen before. Including stars, planets, galaxies and the 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.

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. By June, Risinger had quit his job as a marketing director for a countertop company to seek the darkest skies he could find.

Night after night he and his father set up the cameras on a tripod that rotates with Earth. They captured the Northern Hemisphere from the darkest corners of Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and California. ; Nick and his father sought out the driest and darkest places so as not to have their images effected by any light. Nick set his cameras up in a way that they would be able to automatically take between 20 and 70 exposures each night in three different-color wavelengths.

While in Texas they could not get a night sky as clear as they wanted and finally decided to go up North. However, when they arrived the temperature was below zero,

"It was January and we were hanging out in Telluride waiting for the weather to clear in Arizona or Texas. "Finally we realized the weather was hopeless down south, but it was perfectly clear where we were." They drove an hour away, set up near a frozen lake, and sat in their car with the heat off for 12 hours as the temperature outside dropped to minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit.

"I would have loved to turn the car on for heat, but I was afraid the exhaust would condense on the equipment and make a shutter freeze or ice up the lenses," Risinger said. "Certainly it was the coldest I've ever been, but I've still got all 10 toes and fingers."

The southern hemisphere was captured in two trips to South Africa, not far from the site of the 11-meter Southern African Large Telescope. While shooting the photos in Africa they were invited to stay at a farmers home, and together they enjoyed the evening as the farmer was an amateur astronomer himself.

Upon finishing, he used a combination of standard and customized astrophotography software to subtract noise from the cameras, stack the three colors on top of each other, link each picture to a spot on the sky and stitch the whole thing together. All this he had to teach himself by using online tutorials.

brought to you byGATE

[MHGinTN]

From my front porch I have a ridge that blocks my view of the Smokies toward North Carolina. That ridge is called ‘Indian Ridge’ and it was used by the Indians as a ‘highway’ into and out of the Appalachian chain of mountains where the great Cherokee Nation held regular meetings. It is said that a trail running along the spine of the ridge was a ‘trotting path’ along which traveling Indians ran to and from meetings, etc. The interesting thing about those runs were they were done even at night, by Moonlight or Starlight. D. Boone learned the trick from friendly Indians. It is said that running the paths caused not as friendly Indians to leave the man alone because they figured the runner had to be Indian. Near my home there is a trickling creek, Carroll Creek, which in Boone's time was a more formidable stream. D. Boone left the ridge one evening during a run and Indians chased him. He hid under falls in that creek not a mile from my house.

[dr_lew]

Under ideal conditions of darkness, starlight contributes only seven percent of the brightness of the night sky, which is predominantly due to airglow and zodiacal light. I suspect that in all but the remotest areas, "light pollution" from distant sources dominates any natural cause.

My retinas have aged pretty well, but in a reasonably dark sky ( i.e. one with a prominent milky way ) I find that "retinal noise" is the principal limitation to my acuity with binoculars or a telescope.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"Already posted a couple months ago."

...and, yet, I would never have seen this amazing piece of work if OneVike hadn't posted it again. Thanks, OV. Ignore the curmudgeon.

[Kickass Conservative]

Not accidental, just a grand coincidence. After all it has to be if you are not a Believer.

Or as I like to say, what are the odds?

I'm still trying to get my head around the concept of “forever”. When I was five years old looking into the sky while sitting on the front porch, I asked the nice old Lady who was babysitting me “where does space end ?”.

When my Parents got home, she told them what I had asked and said I was an “interesting” child, HAHAHA...

[Smokin' Joe]

It's like that here, when you get out on the prairie, especially in the winter. From horizon to horizon, not a cloud in the sky, crisp, cold air so robbed of moisture it even mutes the 'twinkle' of the stars--so many that it looks like you could fall off the planet.

I never saw the night sky like that in a more humid area.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[MHGinTN]

What a perfect expression of the sense one gets ... ‘like you could fall off the planet’. As a kid, I sometimes had the nagging feeling ‘Earth is not my home’. I used to spread a blanket out and just lay on my back being lifted off world on a moonless night with no clouds and cold crisp air.

[MHGinTN]

At 65 my eyes are now dimmed to the point that I doubt I would see the coins ...

[Travis McGee]

That’s the English master I meant.

[wardaddy]

Ignore this poster...check out his sign up date, when he started posting and the nature of his posts.

Either retread or troll.

[OneVike]

Good catch WD.

It amazes me how some people just need to be all inside other peoples business.

Only a lost individual would get upset over something like this being posted again. Especially since it was posted last November and the site did not have the interactive image that I posted to. It just had a huge pixel photo.

The one I linked to you can interact with it .

Oh well.

I think I’ll get someone on my ping list to post it again just to piss him off/her.