Updated Gigapan Mosaic of the Milky Way

dvj (John) · #1 06-06-2013, 09:07 AM

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/6bea...abc4015346f827

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 (Russell) · #2 06-06-2013, 09:25 AM

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 (Marc) · #3 06-06-2013, 09:34 AM

Superb. Love that field.

Shame the weather's crap here just when it's right up ahead.

SkyViking (Rolf) · #4 06-06-2013, 09:53 AM

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 (Erik) · #5 06-06-2013, 10:02 AM

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 (Steve Coates) · #6 06-06-2013, 10:24 AM

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

dvj (John) · #7 06-06-2013, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

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 (John) · #8 06-06-2013, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by broca

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

Thank you! It's like digital visual observing.

dvj (John) · #9 06-06-2013, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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?

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 (Erik) · #10 06-06-2013, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

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

Erik

dvj (John) · #11 06-06-2013, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

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 · #12 07-06-2013, 09:52 PM

Amazing work John.

Ross.

dvj (John) · #13 09-06-2013, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross G

Amazing work John.

Ross.

Thank you Ross!

RobF (Rob) · #14 09-06-2013, 10:58 AM

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 · #15 09-06-2013, 12:40 PM

Brilliant work John.

Such a great project.

Greg.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #16 09-06-2013, 12:46 PM

Man, keep going, you have the means and the will, the final work could be Axel Mellinger'esque

Mike

dvj (John) · #17 10-06-2013, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Man, keep going, you have the means and the will, the final work could be Axel Mellinger'esque

Mike

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 (John) · #18 10-06-2013, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Brilliant work John.

Such a great project.

Greg.

Thank you Greg. It definately proves that there is so much you can do with a paltry 4-inch telescope.

Now if that winter weather would just cooperate!

dvj (John) · #19 10-06-2013, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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!

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 (Narayan) · #20 10-06-2013, 07:27 PM

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

Love your work.