Star Light, Star Bright

It's the night sky like you've never seen before

An unprecendented, awe-inspiring image of the Earth's night sky has been recently unveiled.

Comprised of almost 1,200 photographs taken by French astrophotographer Serge Brunier, the 800-million-pixel image is the first of three super-high-resolution images of the GigaGalaxy Zoom Project, which was launched by the ESO as part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009).

Brunier spent several weeks between August 2008 and February 2009 taking pictures of the night sky from observatories in Chile maintained by the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO).

"This 360-degree panoramic image, covering the entire celestial sphere, reveals the cosmic landscape that surrounds our tiny blue planet," according to ScienceDaily.com.

"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."

GET INVOLVED

• Learn how you can participate in the International Year of Astronomy 2009
  
• Sign a petition to add the option for US taxpayers to contribute to NASA on the IRS 1040 tax form
• See what's in the sky tonight
• Buy a telescope from the Discovery Channel store

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image: This magnificent 360-degree panoramic image, covering the entire southern and northern celestial sphere, reveals the cosmic landscape that surrounds our tiny blue planet. The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, which we see edge-on from our perspective on Earth, cuts a luminous swath across the image. The projection used in GigaGalaxy Zoom place the viewer in front of our Galaxy with the Galactic Plane running horizontally through the image — almost as if we were looking at the Milky Way from the outside. From this vantage point, the general components of our spiral galaxy come clearly into view, including its disc, marbled with both dark and glowing nebulae, which harbours bright, young stars, as well as the Galaxy’s central bulge and its satellite galaxies. As filming extended over several months, objects from the Solar System came and went through the star fields, with bright planets such as Venus and Jupiter. (image credit: ESO)