The making process of panoramic sky map

This panoramic sky map was made by American astronomy enthusiast and photographer Nick reisinger. This incredible panoramic sky map was made by astronomy enthusiast and photographer Nick reisinger. He has been observing the sky, but he resolutely quit his job as a marketing director in Seattle, dragged six synchronous cameras for about 60,000 miles (96,600 kilometers), and used a large number of photos taken during the period to synthesize this panoramic sky map. In the western United States and South Africa, 28-year-old reisinger put his camera in a higher position and photographed the new moon around him in real time on a long sunny night. He designed six cameras to track the moving stars in the sky and took tens of thousands of photos at the same time. Then he used these 37,440 photos to synthesize a fascinating 360 panoramic sky map, which was uploaded to the Internet two weeks ago. This composite image shows a 360-degree panorama of the Milky Way, planets and stars in true natural colors. Viewers can zoom in on any part of this 50-megapixel picture to find Orion or large magellanic cloud.

Reisinger, who is engaged in astrophotography for the first time, said, "I want to share with you what I think is possible. We have never observed the starry sky like this. It looks brighter and more spectacular on the screen. On a clear night in Seattle, you can see 20 or 30 stars. From this calculation, the whole night sky will see 20 million to 30 million. Every part of the picture can be enlarged. " Other sky observations before this included digital patrol and Google Sky. Many are for scientific purposes, shooting with red light or blue light to measure the temperature of stars. Reisinger was shot with green light, which makes the photos look deeper and richer.

Reisinger said in his Seattle apartment: "The workload of this filming activity is staggering. This is not an impromptu project. You need to plan how to shoot the whole sky. You know when you need to collect data in these areas through division, because the earth revolves around the sun and the sky will disappear or appear in our sight. " Reisinger and his brother Eric entered the desert near Tonopa, Nevada, USA. Take the last few photos he needed to synthesize this panoramic sky map. When he realized that the workload was too heavy, he resolutely quit his day job and devoted himself to making his own star map. He also persuaded Tom, his retired father who lives in Jigger Harbor, Washington, to join the project. In America, he and his father often drive to the shooting place all day, put the camera away at night and use it to shoot all night. They tried their best to seize the ideal opportunity and shoot the clearest night sky map. They drove to the Cerica Wa Mountains in Arizona, Fort Davis in Texas and the areas near Larsen National Forest in California, because these places have low light pollution, dark night sky, high altitude and little water vapor. When he was shooting in Telluride, Colorado, the outdoor temperature was very low and very cold. When shooting in South Africa, he was surrounded by countless stars and couldn't recognize any constellations around him. Every night, reisinger will install six cameras aimed at specific areas in the sky, and these cameras will continuously transmit pictures to his laptop. He monitors these photos in real time and kills the hard time at night by eating sunflower seeds. Meanwhile, his father has fallen into a deep sleep.

Back in Seattle, reisinger made this composite map. He uses a computer software program to scan each frame, uses a stellar database to identify patterns, and then finds other colors and frames that match it. Flach Noy, head of the astronomy department at Fort Hill College in California, said, "In the past, only professional astronomers could make a 360-degree panoramic night sky map. With the emergence of new computer tools, we found that astronomy enthusiasts are also great. " Reisinger finished this project a few weeks ago, and his website has received thousands of hits. "It's hard to describe in words what I have done to people who don't understand astronomy. But as long as they see it, they will be completely attracted by it. "