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Related: About this forumOne of the Largest Astronomical Images Ever Made
The northern portion of the Cygnus Loop, as seen in an enormous new panorama from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and WIYN partners
Looking for a stunning new desktop image to wrap up the year? Try this: its an amazing panorama of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant located 1,500 light-years away in the constellation (you guessed it) Cygnus. The full-size image, acquired with the wide-field Mosaic camera on the WIYN 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak, Arizona, is a staggering 600 million pixels in size over 1.68 gigabytes making it one of the largest astronomical images ever made!
The entire structure of the Cygnus Loop, the gaseous remains of a supernova that occurred 5,000 10,000 years ago, spans an area nearly 45 times the width of the full Moon in the sky.
In the image, hydrogen alpha, sulphur, and oxygen ions correspond to the red, green, and blue color values, respectively.
Images like this are amazing because they can remind you of the big picture and beauty that surrounds us.
Dr. Richard Cool, MMT Observatory
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/99069/one-of-the-largest-astronomical-images-ever-made/
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One of the Largest Astronomical Images Ever Made (Original Post)
n2doc
Dec 2012
OP
Vinnie From Indy
(10,820 posts)1. cool!
Cheers!
bongbong
(5,436 posts)2. Great image
I wonder what part of 6000 years it took to make it?
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)7. Best estimates
place the age of the Cygnus Loop at between 6,000 and 7,000 years BCE, too early for created humans to have seen, but not too early for some of our evolved ancestors, who may have seen the supernova that made it. It would have been visible with the naked eye for several weeks.
reteachinwi
(579 posts)3. Dr. Cool!?!
He changed his name.
nikto
(3,284 posts)4. From the good Rush...
valerief
(53,235 posts)5. Love the grinning face profile on the left side of the pic. The right side looks like his Popeye arm
Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)6. So why didn't you post the full size image?
What's the problem?
progressoid
(50,001 posts)8. Maybe he needs an Instagram account.