The Hidden Night

April 27, 2011 9:54 PM

The Photopic Sky Survey is a 5,000 megapixel, 360 degree panorama of the entire night sky stitched together from 37,440 exposures. (via)
posted by gruchall (25 comments total)

Zoom fully in. Zoom fully out. Die from existential awe!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 9:58 PM on April 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

wow
posted by pyramid termite at 10:01 PM on April 27, 2011

I feel quite small right now.
posted by rachaelfaith at 10:02 PM on April 27, 2011

WOW
posted by dougzilla at 10:03 PM on April 27, 2011

I hope they develop an app for this. I want to zoom endlessly through this with my hands. (Also, if someone asked me what I was looking at I could go, "Dude, THE UNIVERSE.")
posted by greenland at 10:07 PM on April 27, 2011

This was done by an amateur astrophotographer in under a year. He quit his marketing job and traveled over 60,000 miles seeking the darkest clearest skies he could find.
posted by gruchall at 10:16 PM on April 27, 2011 [7 favorites]

Amazing.
posted by Cranberry at 10:26 PM on April 27, 2011

I have like three blurry pictures of the Moon and a few of Orion.

This makes me squeal a bit. And thankful to have access to it.
posted by Earthtopus at 10:30 PM on April 27, 2011

I think I see Carl Sagan.
posted by bwg at 10:39 PM on April 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Mark me down as "unimpressed". The Universe is just star, star, star, void, star, galaxy, void, sub-space anomaly, star. It's pretty boring when you think about it. Plus, the Universe is like the WORST social network you could imagine. How many other planets has Earth actually "friended"? NONE.

I've been thinking of collapsing under my own gravity to create a singularity fundamentally separate from the rest of the Universe, by eating two desserts every day. So I'll have another slice of pecan pie and say: "your favourite Universe sucks, losers".
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:11 PM on April 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Quite possibly the coolest post to metafilter. Ever. Thank you.
posted by fiestapais at 11:32 PM on April 27, 2011

I found his name/credits in there but I'm not telling where.
posted by XhaustedProphet at 11:44 PM on April 27, 2011 [2 favorites]

Sublime cosmic rush. I needed that tonight. Thank you.
posted by nickyskye at 12:04 AM on April 28, 2011

Fantastic. The zoom feature will really help me in my battle against the Ur-Quan.
posted by empyrean at 12:42 AM on April 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

wow.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:46 AM on April 28, 2011

I am staring into the center of the galaxy. ::shiver::
posted by Splunge at 3:51 AM on April 28, 2011

Assuming you believe in God, I don't understand how someone could look at this and think God really gave a damn whether I'm married to a bloke named Steve or a lady named Mary. That's why I though about anyways.
posted by marxchivist at 4:15 AM on April 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

don't understand how someone could look at this and think God really gave a damn whether I'm married to a bloke named Steve or a lady named Mary

Well speaking as a guy called Steve who is married to a lady named Mary, I'd just like to say that God says: (a) keep your filthy hands off my wife, you creep; (b) put this cowboy hat on; and (c) meet me in a small tent on Brokeback Mountain tonight. We'll "talk" about this issue there.

God also wants you to bring some tacos, and your nice pajamas.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:10 AM on April 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

Just awesome.
posted by odinsdream at 6:24 AM on April 28, 2011

And apparently God has tattooed His name all across the galaxy as well -- how is it that we have never seen this before?
posted by sutt at 6:49 AM on April 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Things like this never cease to amaze me.
posted by HumanComplex at 6:56 AM on April 28, 2011

My God -- it's full of stars
posted by keratacon at 7:16 AM on April 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

That interactive 360 is mind blowing.
posted by Max Power at 9:55 AM on April 28, 2011

Great. Lot's of sky to gaze at and zooming in feels like your piloting a spaceship at warp speed.
posted by Skygazer at 9:12 PM on April 29, 2011

your you're
posted by Skygazer at 9:14 PM on April 29, 2011