5,000 megapixel photo of night sky stitched together from 37,440 exposures

skysurvey.org

72 points·ssclafani··10 comments

I would pay for the dataset of these 37440 unstiched images. Author - please contact me (email in my profile).

This is really amazing, just spent a few mins trying to pick out objects.

The Andromeda galaxy, the pleiades and the Orion nebula stand out in the photo in a very similar way to the real night sky.

yeah, Andromeda, Orion Nebula, SMC, LMC, all stand out so clearly

I'm really tempted to buy the 120"x30" print, I feel like the guy should be compensated for this epic task. Problem is I'd then need to find a 3 meter wall to mount the picture on!

I just saw the 120"x30" print rolled out in front of my office a couple days ago. I think the biggest challenge is figuring out a way to mount a rolled print that big without stabbing it with pushpins.

There is a donate button on the website. Of course you won't get the print, but you can still support the project.

NASA's budget was cut by $241M in 2011.

Makes you wonder sometimes.

Very cool. I just wish he had made it with an area-preserving projection like the Hammer-Aitoff. Now things are distorted beyond recognition at the top and bottom.

Really, why is there no download? Isn't that the whole idea? A flash-based viewer thingy is nice, but absolutely no replacement for actually downloading the entirety.

(Yes, they do provide some scaled downloads that appear to be designed for using as a desktop background. The highest resolution is only 3000x5000 though)

He might intend to sell this and doesn't want everyone and their 2nd cousin stealing it. Of course the flash thing doesn't prevent that either but it will probably prevent a large percentage of the people who see it on the web site.

Might not be tech-related, but this just made my day.

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