Finnish astrophotographer J-P Metsavainio has launched a Milky Way {photograph} that took him virtually 12 years to create. The 1.7-gigapixel image has a cumulative publicity time of 1,250 hours.
Observe: Click on on the photographs on this text to see them at a much bigger choice.
Metsavainio began capturing for the mission once more in 2009. For the next 12 years, he centered on fully completely different areas and objects inside the Milky Way, capturing stitched mosaics of them as explicit particular person artworks. To complete the ultra-high-resolution view of the Milky Way as a whole, Metsavainio then received right down to fill inside the gaps that weren’t lined by his genuine artworks.
“I really feel this could be a first image ever displaying the Milky Way on this choice and depth the least bit three coloration channels (H-a, S-II, and O-III),” Metsavainio tells PetaPixel.
The {photograph} is 100,000 pixels massive and contains 234 explicit particular person panels stitched collectively.
The {photograph} spans 125 ranges of the sky, from Taurus to Cygnus, and displays about 20 million seen stars.
“My processing workflow could also be very fastened so little or no tweaking was wished between the mosaic frames,” Metsavainio writes. “Entire publicity time is over 1250 hours. Some of the frames have further publicity time than others.”
Metsavainio’s instruments modified a bit over time.
“As a lot as 2014 I was using an earlier Meade LX200 GPS 12″ scope, QHY9 astrocam, Canon EF 200mm f/1.8 digicam optics and Baader narrowband filter set,” he writes. “After 2014, I’ve had 10-micron 1000 equatorial mount, Apogee Alta U16 astro digicam, Tokina AT-X 200mm f/2.8 digicam lens and the Astrodon 50mm sq. narrowband filter set.
“I’ve shot many particulars with an prolonged focal measurement, sooner than 2014 via the use of Meade 12″ scope with reducer and after 2014 Celestron EDGE 11″ and reducer. Quider digicam has been Lodestar and Lodestar II.”
All of the mosaic work is completed in Photoshop. Metsavainio does the “simple work” of matching the separate panels using shared stars to align them.
“My processing has develop to be so fastened, that little or no tweaking is required between separate frames,” he writes, “just some minor ranges, curves, and coloration steadiness.”
Listed below are a quantity of of the particular person artworks which may be seen inside very small areas of the completed {photograph}:
You possibly can discover further of Metsavainio’s work on his website and Facebook.
Image credit score: Footage by J-P Metsavainio and used with permission
