The Visible Universe - a journey from 100km to 12.4 billion light years

SkyViking (Rolf) · #1 25-06-2010, 11:43 PM

Hi all, it has been cloudy here in Auckland so rather than imaging I've been able to finish a little project that I've been working on for a while.

This collage is a celebration of the great diversity and beauty of our visible Universe as represented by a wide range of both familiar and more exotic objects, which are all visible in amateur telescopes using modest equipment. The immense and unfathomable distances are illustrated by sorting the objects according to their distance from Earth.

I have made this one in 16:10 format for nicely fitting on a widescreen monitor.
Image is available here: http://upload.pbase.com/rolfolsen/im...37688/original

Hope you enjoy. It was great fun and very interesting to make and I'm currently using it as my desktop background

Regards,
Rolf

strongmanmike (Michael) · #2 25-06-2010, 11:51 PM

Brilliant Rolf!

great presentation.

Seeing almost to the edge of the Universe...with a 250mm scope and a web cam..amazing

Mike

DavidU (Dave) · #3 25-06-2010, 11:51 PM

You are always thinking outside the box and this is a wonderfully executed project.Great work Rolf.

astroron (Ron) · #4 25-06-2010, 11:52 PM

Very interesting Rolf, and Well presented

TrevorW · #5 26-06-2010, 12:17 AM

top presentation whats your day job

Octane (Humayun) · #6 26-06-2010, 12:21 AM

Rolf,

You've just outdone yourself.

Remarkable.

H

JD2439975 (Justin) · #7 26-06-2010, 01:18 AM

Rolf that is fabulous mate, some wonderful images with masterful presentation.

That deserves to be in the 2010 IceInSpace compendium.

If that doesn't show what an amateur can do with some will & imagination then I don't know what does.

Rates a gold star & an elephant stamp, take the rest of the day off.

Justin.

alan meehan (Alan) · #8 26-06-2010, 06:39 AM

Stunning and educational would make a great poster ,thanks Rolf

dugnsuz (Doug) · #9 26-06-2010, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan meehan

Stunning and educational would make a great poster ,thanks Rolf

I second that - very well done Rolf
Doug

Tamtarn · #10 26-06-2010, 09:14 AM

A lot of time and effort rewarded with a superb presentation Rolf
Well done

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #11 26-06-2010, 09:31 AM

Fantastic Rolf!!! - what a great presentation!

Even more so in that you've illustrated that the entire universe can be seen through modest equipment! Well done!

Cheers, Marcus

RobF (Rob) · #12 26-06-2010, 10:06 AM

5 stars for for technical achievement gathering such great data/pics, but 6 stars (out of 5..

) for the very original idea/presentation!
Great Work.

Robh (Rob) · #13 26-06-2010, 12:55 PM

Rolf,

Nicely ordered flowchart of the cosmos. Great presentation!
Makes a fascinating and educational "read"!

Regards, Rob

RobF (Rob) · #14 26-06-2010, 01:40 PM

Wouldn't take much to write up a paragraph or two and submit it to Sky and Telescope as an article piece....

It really is that good...

Kevnool (Kev) · #15 26-06-2010, 01:44 PM

A great presentation here Rolf.
Enjoyed looking and reading.
Cheers Kev.

alexch (Alex) · #16 26-06-2010, 02:02 PM

Excellent presentation! It would make a very nice poster.

Alex

dcalleja · #17 26-06-2010, 03:17 PM

I'd buy one of those posters! Brilliant presentation.

SkyViking (Rolf) · #18 26-06-2010, 06:43 PM

Thank you guys for all your nice comments, that was really quite humbling and very encouraging to read!

I'm actually now having a couple of posters made for myself so this image is now available for purchase here:
http://tinyurl.com/the-visible-universe

If anybody is interested just be aware they do both canvas and framed prints which are a lot more expensive, but just choose the option 'Poster / Art Print' to get it as a poster rolled in a tube.

I have made three sizes available (it has to be fairly big for the text to be readable):
30.00" x 18.75"
36.00" x 22.50"
40.00" x 25.00"

I checked and the total price incl. shipping to Australia comes to around USD65.00 for the 30.00" x 18.75" size.

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Brilliant Rolf! great presentation.

Seeing almost to the edge of the Universe...with a 250mm scope and a web cam..amazing

Mike

Thank you Mike, glad you liked it! Yes it's pretty amazing to be able to capture photons from the depths beyond 12 billion light years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidU

You are always thinking outside the box and this is a wonderfully executed project.Great work Rolf.

Thanks David. I enjoy creating these presentations so your comment is encouraging

Quote:

Originally Posted by astroron

Very interesting Rolf, and Well presented

Thank you Ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorW

top presentation whats your day job

Thank you Trevor During daylight hours I'm a software developer, mostly Java but used to do C/C++ in the 'old' days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octane

Rolf,

You've just outdone yourself.

Remarkable.

H

Thank you Humayun, I'm glad you liked it

Quote:

Originally Posted by JD2439975

Rolf that is fabulous mate, some wonderful images with masterful presentation.

That deserves to be in the 2010 IceInSpace compendium.

If that doesn't show what an amateur can do with some will & imagination then I don't know what does.

Rates a gold star & an elephant stamp, take the rest of the day off.

Justin.

Thanks for your kind comments Justin. It is pretty amazing what everyone here achieves even with modest equipment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan meehan

Stunning and educational would make a great poster ,thanks Rolf

Thank you Alan, yes it does put things in perspective when seeing all those images together.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugnsuz

I second that - very well done Rolf
Doug

Thanks Doug

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tamtarn

A lot of time and effort rewarded with a superb presentation Rolf
Well done

Thank you Barb and David. It took me a while to do, but 'fortunately' I have been blessed with cloudy skies lately to give me plenty of time for putting this presentation together. I do hope it clears soon though!

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Fantastic Rolf!!! - what a great presentation! Even more so in that you've illustrated that the entire universe can be seen through modest equipment! Well done!

Cheers, Marcus

Thank you very much Marcus. It is surprising also for me. When I started out with my webcam 7 years ago I would never have thought I could ever image such dim and faraway objects, it's all very fascinating!

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

5 stars for for technical achievement gathering such great data/pics, but 6 stars (out of 5..) for the very original idea/presentation!
Great Work.

Thanks very much Rob, glad you liked it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robh

Rolf,

Nicely ordered flowchart of the cosmos. Great presentation!
Makes a fascinating and educational "read"!

Regards, Rob

Thank you Rob

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

Wouldn't take much to write up a paragraph or two and submit it to Sky and Telescope as an article piece....

It really is that good...

That's very humbling indeed, thanks! I have no idea what the process is if I was to do so... I think I'll let it be with the poster for now

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevnool

A great presentation here Rolf.
Enjoyed looking and reading.
Cheers Kev.

Thank you Kev, glad you enjoyed it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexch

Excellent presentation! It would make a very nice poster.

Alex

Thank you Alex. Poster is now available!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcalleja

I'd buy one of those posters! Brilliant presentation.

Thank you Dan

mithrandir (Andrew) · #19 26-06-2010, 09:05 PM

Rolf,

That deserves an APOD.

SkyViking (Rolf) · #20 28-06-2010, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mithrandir

Rolf,

That deserves an APOD.

Thanks very much Andrew

It's probably too large a size for an APOD entry? Wouldn't fit on their main page I suppose... (not that I expect to achieve an APOD anytime soon haha!)