Updated Gigapan Mosaic of the Milky Way

[dvj]

Well gang, poor weather has prevented progress on my mosaic project, but I did manage to add 3 more segments to panorama:

http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/6beafcc0ac03c7c5e4abc4015346f827

Don't forget you can do a full screen view, zoom and pan with your mouse, or from the main page click on my snapshots for close up detail. This is all at 100% 16803 resolution.

Now up to 18 segments on this assembly. M24 and M17 visible along with a reassembly of the entire thing. Totally hooked on the result so far and can't wait to just continue adding segments throughout the Milky Way season.

1 hour each segment (12x300s)
L channel
FLI Proline 16803
Tak FSQ-N
Remotely imaged from Coonabarabran, NSW

[rustigsmed]

Wow!
That is fantastic!
What software do you use for stitching John?
And where do you think you will draw the line??? once you start stitching you can't stop!

Cheers,

Rusty

[multiweb]

Superb. Love that field. :thumbsup: Shame the weather's crap here just when it's right up ahead. :rolleyes:

[SkyViking]

That is astounding, what a marvellous view you've got there John. It's great to pan around in :)
Are you planning to add colour to this as well?

[E_ri_k]

Fantastic John :) How much more are you thinking of adding? Wouldn't it be awesome to do a whole 180 deg view :p

Erik

[broca]

Holy cow! I encourage everyone to zoom in and pan around. Your hard work with this is paying off.

[dvj]

Hi Erik,

I am going to add as much as my interest holds to this project. When considering the number of panels to go all the way over to Eta Car, the multi gigapixel size is staggering.

j

[dvj]

Thank you! It's like digital visual observing.

[dvj]

I might have to use some blended color from other work that has been done like this. Or figure out a way to do high QE color in a short time. I'm not adverse to it. I would like to look at blending in some Ha fields I have done with the same system to enhance the Ha emission nebulas.

j

[E_ri_k]

I can imagine, it would be enormous! I hope it does, it's a truly amazing project :)
Erik

[dvj]

Thank you Rusty. When I run out of passion I guess. I've needed something to interest me again with imaging. The Gigapan presentation is exciting in that it lets me display the full res. Then it can go public to thousands of people, where I will update each of the snapshots with accurate and complete descriptions. I am currently using Photomerge in Photoshop CS5.

[Ross G]

Amazing work John.


Ross.

[dvj]

Thank you Ross!

[RobF]

The scale and resolution is getting into groundbreaking territory. Kudos on you for making maximum use of your observatory too. Processing seems wonderful also - no suggestion of mosaicing as you scroll around!

[gregbradley]

Brilliant work John.

Such a great project.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Man, keep going, you have the means and the will, the final work could be Axel Mellinger'esque (http://home.arcor.de/axel.mellinger/) :thumbsup:

Mike

[dvj]

Hey thanks Mike. I just added 3 more segments from the previous clear night. Looks like we are in for a week of clouds and rain at Coona. Debating now the color question. How to do a hundred RGB segments and match color gradients will be a challenge. But for now I am stunned at the L channel detail and the classic grayscale.

[dvj]

Thank you Greg. It definately proves that there is so much you can do with a paltry 4-inch telescope. :lol: Now if that winter weather would just cooperate!

[dvj]

Thank you Rob. CS4 Photomerge is not perfect, but it does leave all the layers that are easy to adjust with the levels tool. I'm am also discovering that the more you can make each tile exactly the same level and curves as the next, Photomerge does a much better job at the final assembly stitching. I'll be talking to the Adobe guys to find out what is optimal for processing multi-gigapixel assemblies.

[seeker372011]

Having salivated..metaphorically speaking... For years, over your H alpha images I look forward to how this superb endeavour will turnout

Love your work.

[marc4darkskies]

Hooly dooly John! :eyepop: Tipping my hat to you!! ... That's a labour of love for sure!

Cheers, Marcus

[Peter Ward]

Nicely done John.... I did something similar a few years back....but due my scatter-gun approach (and change in the weather) never quite finished it (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery106.html)

You've motivated me to finish this epic!

[dvj]

Hi Peter,

I still have a gigantic Ha mosaic partially completed. The problem is that to achieve good depth and SNR, it takes a huge amount of exposure time. The fix of course is to have multiple cameras running on different segments. The cost becomes "astronomical" when considering 3 or 4 Proline 16803s with filters, mounts, FSQ, etc. So, I'll just continue to plug away at this one.

[dvj]

Here is a small sample of where this first portion is headed

[David Fitz-Henr]

Wow, megaproject! Amazing stuff John!

[marco]

:bowdown:
I N C R E D I B L E John, a fantastic panel! I spent at least 10 minutes enjoin surfing it at full resolution, kudos to this herculean effort!
Clear Skies
Marco