360° virtual tour of Milky Way

[alexch]

Hi,

I just got back from a short trip to Phillip Island where I experimented with 360 degree spherical panoramas of Milky Way.

Attached is the panorama image in spherical projection. This one was done shortly before sunrise, you can see Jupiter in the eastern horizon.

QuickTime Virtual Tour, where you can rotate and zoom is available on my website - click on the Video icon to play (you need to have the latest Quicktime player from Apple):
http://www.terrastro.com/index.php?folder=/03.Phillip%20Island/

If the movie file does not play properly on the site (IE8 seems to have a problem), install Apple Quicktime and then right-click and "save as" this link:
http://www.terrastro.com/photo.php?file=/03.Phillip%20Island/01.360%20Virtual%20Tour.mov
then open it in Quicktime player

To zoom in use SHIFT key, zoom out - CTRL key dragging it with the mouse will move the panorama around.

Two rows, 12 images total. All shot with the usual camera/lens:
D700, 14-24mm f/2.8; 15 sec @ ISO 1600

It does take a while to process and align the shots...

Thanks for looking,
Alex

[Kevnool]

That is so awesome Alex.
Great stuff.
Cheers Kev.

[Peter Ward]

Nicely done Alex.....I did the same thing a few years ago....but only used
one exposure ;)

http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/wholeshebang.mov

I like your twilight rendition better.

[alexch]

Very nice Peter, what lens/camera did you use for one shot panorama?

I did the 1am night-version first and whilst the Milky Way had a bit more contrast but light domes from Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula and Cowes were too ugly. The twilight masked them a little better.

[Jeffkop]

Awesome Alex ... these are magnificent to look at mate.