Photographer Creates Incredible Night-Sky Picture Using 37,440 Exposures
- Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:08am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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SEATTLE (AP) — Nick Risinger has always gazed up at the sky. But last year the amateur astronomer and photographer quit his day job as a Seattle marketing director and lugged six synchronized cameras about 60,000 miles to capture an image of the entire night sky.
Risinger, 28, set up his rack of cameras in high-elevation locales in the Western U.S. and South Africa, timing photo shoots around new moons when nights were long and dark. He programmed his six cameras to track the stars as they moved across the sky and simultaneously snapped thousands of photos.
He then stitched 37,440 exposures together into a spectacular, panoramic survey sky that he posted online two weeks ago. The photo reveals a 360-degree view of the Milky Way, planets and stars in their true natural colors. Viewers can zoom in on portions of the 5,000-megapixel image to find Orion or the Large Magellanic Cloud.
“I wanted to share what I thought was possible,” said Risinger, a first-time astrophotographer. “We don’t see it like this. This is much brighter. On a good night in Seattle, you’ll see 20 or 30 stars. This, in its full size, you’ll see 20 to 30 million. Everything is amplified.”
Other sky surveys have preceded this one, including the Digitized Sky Survey and Google Sky. Many serve scientific purposes and were shot in red and blue to measure the temperature of stars, Risinger said. He shot in a third color, green, to give the photo added depth and richness, he said.
“What a labor of love it is!” said Andrew Fraknoi, senior educator at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. “Professional astronomers are now doing much deeper surveys of small regions of the sky, using big telescopes. But every once in a while it’s nice to step back and have such a beautiful photographic record of the whole sky.”
“This is not a scientifically useful image. This is for educational and artistic appreciation,” Risinger said, adding that he didn’t want to make money off it. “It is for educational purposes. I want to develop some tools for the classroom.”
To capture the entire night sky in a year, Risinger plotted out an exact schedule of images he needed from both the northern and southern hemisphere. He divided the sky into 624 uniform sections and entered those coordinates into the computer.
“The sheer amount of work was mind-boggling,” he said at his apartment in Seattle. “It’s not a wing-it kind of project. You have to plan how you’re going to get the entire sky. And you do that by dividing it up into pieces and knowing what time you need to collect those pieces because as the Earth goes around the Sun, things come in and out of view.”
In March of last year, Risinger and his older brother, Erik, traveled to the desert near Tonapah, Nev., and took the first photos of what eventually would become his Photopic Sky Survey.
When he realized the work was too monumental, Risinger quit his day job as a marketing director of a countertop company to devote himself full-time to the project. He also persuaded his retired father, Tom, who lives in Gig Harbor, Wash., to join him.
In the U.S., he and his dad would often drive all day and set up and take photographs all night. They chased ideal windows of opportunity to catch the night sky at its clearest.
Their travels took them to dark places where light pollution was low and higher altitudes where there was less water vapor — near the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona, near Fort Davis, Tex., and Lassen National Forest in California. He found himself staking out stars in freezing temperatures in Telluride, Colo., and amid stars in South Africa where none of the constellations were recognizable to his northern hemisphere-trained eyes.
Each night, Risinger set the six cameras — high-end monochrome astrophotography imagers equipped with different filters — to point in the exact same spot and continuously feed his laptop with images. He monitored the photographs in real-time and passed the dark hours eating sunflower seeds. Meanwhile, his dad slept.
Back in Seattle, Risinger began piecing the panoramic image together in January. He used a computer software program to scan each frame, recognize the pattern with a database of stars and then match them with the other colors and frames. That got projected onto a sphere.
“Making an atlas of the night sky is something that mostly professional astronomers would have done in the past,” said Fraknoi, who is also chairman of the astronomy department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif. “With new computer tools at our disposal, it’s remarkable what amateur astronomers can discover.”
Risinger finished the project a couple weeks ago, and has been getting thousands of hits on his website.
“It was always hard to describe what I was doing that would make sense to people that aren’t familiar with astronomy. But once they see it, they get it.”
____
On the Internet:
Photopic Sky Survey: http://skysurvey.org/
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Comments (98)
Vickie Dhaene
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 11:00amAbsolutely breathtaking !!! And thanks to Stuck_in_California for the link to Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Report Post »This was brilliant on the part of Mr. Risinger.
KeeptheFeasts
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 11:00amHow Awesome is it that God knows the name to EVERY SINGLE STAR!!!
Remember the Covenant to Abraham….Look up and know I put the stars in heaven as the sign of the promise I made to you. Your seed is as of the number of the stars in the sky. Your decendants are as the stars in the sky!
Thank you God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob!!
Report Post »JGraham III
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 2:02pmThere is an obscure book titled: The Witness of the Stars by EW Bullinger that goes into detail about the names of the stars in their respective constellations and shows that they actually lay out God’s plan of salvation. If this premise is true, then there would be a much bigger meaning in what God told Abraham and in God’s statement that Man is without excuse because He showed them his plan from the beginning. Yes, indeed Glory to God!!
Report Post »manster
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 11:00amHuzzah! Most excellent! Hope he makes a fortune
Report Post »CWW
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:40amWhen I was young I would enjoy looking into the night sky with binoculars or a small telescope to see the planets.
Seeing such photographs as this makes viewing the heavens so much easer on the old eyes.
Fantastic work! I hope as many people as possible get to see these images. So much light pollution in the cities keep people young and old from seeing any of it at all.
Thanks to those who creating the work and thanks go to the BLAZE for showing it to us.
Report Post »cranes
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:37amThis guy should get the Nobel Peace Prize instead of Obama!
Report Post »JGraham III
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:33am“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.” Ps 19:1. We do indeed serve an awesome God! Almost everything on earth has been sullied by man’s pride and arrogance, but he has not been able to get his filth into the beauty of the heavens. Space travel? not going to happen! Time travel? definitely not going to happen! Man has to die in order to escape time, and thankfully man will take no earthly things with him into eternity. Thank the Lord!
Report Post »ARMOR BEARER 147
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:25amWhen I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! —-[- Psalm 8:3-9
Report Post »I_Hate_Libs
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:19amThis photo is Awesome!
Report Post »Mirimichi
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:14amAwesome!
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:12amSnowleopard {gallery of cat folks}: Then when people tell me that there is no God, I just smile. Because there is no way that this just happened.
Report Post »Steven63
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 2:10pmAgreed. Point the non-believers to math – it’s what I do. How can something so ‘random’ and chaotic be solvable with a mathematical equation? Even though we don’t have all the solutions yet, it can all be unravelled with math – the universal language. Math is logical and that cannot exist in a world that happened by ‘chance’. It reveals an intelligence.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:12amThat is one real Can Do American! Great work! Thanks!
Report Post »liriadavila
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:01amIt’s amazing what people can do when we have freedom.
Report Post »tonythefisher
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:58amAbsolutely jaw dropping! What a wonderful, beautiful way to pass one’s time! This Guy’s website is now my favorite, next to Hubble’s! God bless!
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:44amCool, cool, cool!!
Report Post »JohnHW
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:39amAnd to think, Obama’s administration cuts programs which would, in the LONG run, benefit all of mankind. Maybe some of those short-sighted people will be the truly awesome scope of what God has given us, will bring back programs to spread humans off this planet and into space. Great idea and wonderful job. Their job will be one of my favorites for years.
Report Post »starman70
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:39amAs I observe the wonders of the Earth and the Heavens, who am I, that GOD would care about me.
Yet, not only does he care, he sent his son JESUS CHRIST to die for my sins and the sins of the whole world.
WHAT AN AWESONE GOD WE SERVE!!!!
Report Post »OUTRIDER WRITER
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:48amSo true, so true.
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 12:10pmso true my A$#
Report Post »OLDBIKEFIXER
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:35amJust goes to show you what can be accomplished when you have that kind of free time on your hands.
Nice pictures, but who was footing the bill for the project?
Report Post »earthrise
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 12:07pmReally…. does it matter?
From what i’ve gathered no “govt.” was involved, ie no taxpayer was …“tapped” thereof.
’tis a “labor of love”…….. IMO.
:D
Report Post »avenger
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 6:43pmyou bet ! at least he was not marching in wisconsin….
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:35amCan you even imagine what HEAVEN is going to be like? This earthly home is awesome and so detailed in design and color and texture and dimension.
Indeed, “WHAT AN AWESOME GOD WE SERVE”!
Report Post »hannahh
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 7:47pmYes our God is an AWESOME God. Thank you Stuck_in_CA and the photographer here.
Report Post »reckless
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:33amTo touch the face of God….
Report Post »TheJuice
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:29amI don‘t guess it’s point and shoot…
Report Post »Tickdog
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:24amnice job!
Report Post »Steven63
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:23amTHIS, is what the human spirit is all about. No motive other than self motivation to do something never done before. No government involvement; no institutional mandate. Just one man with a vision to give something to all of humanity.
To be able to see our Galaxy in such a way is truly a blessing and many will not realize the impact for years.
Report Post »John 3:16
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:19amWe serve an AWSOME GOD!
Report Post »Ebbertron
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:15amwonder if Obama will take credit for this too……?
Report Post »BONETRAUMA
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:22amBush did it.
Report Post »smak
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:51amMoochellle got a big ass!
Report Post »tinydd
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:37amThe left will accuse him of racism since he didn’t include yellow and brown in his images.
Report Post »escape_from_socialism
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 3:29pmif there is a way he could – I wouldn’t put it past him…
Report Post »MidWestMom
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:13amAmazing!!
Report Post »Stuck_in_CA
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:21amGod’s Creation is so magnificent. Everyday I check the Astronomy Picture of the Day website:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Report Post »WHOISTHATMADMAN
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:21amI think I see some galactic global warming in there…call Gore and get him on it. We need to cut interstellar carbon emissions before the polar ice caps in the Milky Way melt…
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:23amIncredible, just incredible indeed…God is an artist extrodinare…and behold the wonders all about.
Makes us wonder at just how little we really are in the greater scheme of things. Along with all that HE is able to do if we but ask, trust, and allow of Him to do with us.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:27amIt is! Congratulations to Mr. Risinger.
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:29am.
Report Post »Yeah, but did he make muslims feel good about themselves……….Hmmmm?
right-wing-waco
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:33amMost people have no idea how much work goes into just a small picture of the sky. Lining up the many exposures and the all the filtering and processing. This was a LOT of work and a bunch of time just taking the frames and then more processing. Congrats for a very nice piece of work.
Report Post »pappy
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:50amIt’s truly amazing what can be accomplished with a few cameras, a couple rolls of film and a few million bucks.
Report Post »My hat’s off to ya, young fella. I did a little photography of the night skies and a few solar eclipses when I was a bit younger. Back when Kodak first came out with the “Insta-matic 110″. Even though we were using a state of the art (at that time) 35mm MINOLTA, our pics didn’t look anything like his. Nice work.
Special thanks to God for providing the subject matter for the photo work…..
TXPilot
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 9:55amJust imagine, how far the human race could go, if we would stop wasting our time and energy on fighting each other, and instead pursue endeavours such as this.
Report Post »MEESHEL
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:14amWow Wow Wow! This is what ‘awesome’ illustrates. I’m so happy he had the foresight and fortitude to accomplish this. It’s an amazing achievement and an amazing contribution. It‘s hard to believe what he’s been able to capture on film… it’s wonderful
Report Post »mullet
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 10:32amIf you write an article about him you should at least link to his website.
Report Post »theteaishot
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 11:05amI like it.
Report Post »the_zazzy
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 11:26am@STUCK_IN_CA:
Report Post »Thanks for sharing this with us!
right-wing-waco
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 11:48amFor those that want to see more. http://skysurvey.org/
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 12:40pmAbsolutely boggles my mind! Love the interactive thingy over at his site.
Report Post »Bearfoot
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 2:19pmPsalms 19:1 The heavens are declaring the glory of God;
And of the work of his hands the expanse is telling.
Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the mere hollow of his hand, and taken the proportions of the heavens themselves with a mere span and included in a measure the dust of the earth, or weighed with an indicator the mountains, and the hills in the scales?
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 3:00pmAs you view his picture, realize that there are billions of galaxies, each contain billions of stars (suns). Does anyone really believe this is just an accident? This is why I am a believer in God and also why I believe there are other “worlds” with intelligent life. When you look around the Earth and see the hate, destruction, and other evils of man, I can only think, and hope, that we (mankind) are not the smartest in the universe.
Get away from the city lights this weekend, take your binoculars out and enjoy the night sky.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 4:40pmStar Struck!
Report Post »avenger
Posted on May 12, 2011 at 5:18pmthat’s nice…and the point is ….I am more concerned about the USA sliding into the toilet when the fkng radicals are having a ball while 90% of the population is clueless…..
Report Post »Florida_Freedom_Fighter
Posted on May 13, 2011 at 12:16amI’ll quit my job if you hire me, P10x
Report Post »Bible Quotin' Science Fearin' Conservative American
Posted on May 13, 2011 at 12:59amStatistically , the odds that there are other planets in our own Milky Way with identical conditions to Earth are 100%
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