Sept 17, 2009: Milky Way

[xoxoxoBruce]

Not the candy bar, that bigass bunch of stars up in the sky.
You may have noticed it.

A new magnificent 800-million-pixel panorama of the entire sky has been unveiled online today. It was stitched together from 1,200 photos by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory from viewing sites in Chile. The project allows stargazers to explore and experience the Universe as it is seen with the unaided eye from the darkest and best viewing locations in the world.

Here's an itty bitty version...

The painstaking production of this image came about as a collaboration between ESO, the French writer and astrophotographer Serge Brunier and his fellow Frenchman Frédéric Tapissier. Brunier spent several weeks during the period between August 2008 and February 2009 capturing the sky, mostly from ESO observatories at La Silla and Paranal in Chile.

Link

The interactive version is here, but if you see a Death Star, zoom out quickly.