J/PASP/121/1180 Color panorama image of the Milky Way (Mellinger+, 2009)
A color all-sky panorama image of the Milky way.
Mellinger A.
<Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac., 121, 1180-1187 (2009)>
=2009PASP..121.1180M 2009PASP..121.1180M
ADC_Keywords: Positional data
Abstract:
This article describes the assembly of an optical (RGB) all-sky mosaic
image with an image scale of 36"/pix, a limiting magnitude of
approximately 14mag, and an 18 bit dynamic range. Using a portable
low-cost CCD camera system, 70 fields (each covering 40°x27°)
were imaged over a time span of 22 months from dark-sky locations in
South Africa, Texas, and Michigan. The fields were photometrically
calibrated against standard catalog stars. Using sky background data
from the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes, gradients resulting from
artificial light pollution, airglow, and zodiacal light were
eliminated, while the large-scale galactic and extragalactic
background resulting from unresolved sources was preserved. The 648
megapixel image is a valuable educational tool, being able to fully
utilize the resolution and dynamic range of modern full-dome
planetarium projection systems.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table3.dat 38 75 Field list
fig7.gif 512 231 *RGB mosaic, combined with photometric
calibration and background subtraction
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Note on fig7.gif: Top: entire sky in Hammer-Aitoff projection.
Middle: enlarged view of the central Milky Way.
Bottom: full-scale view of the Antares/ρ Oph region.
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 2 I2 --- Field Field name
3 A1 --- m_Field Multplicity index on Field
5- 8 A4 --- Site Site (1)
10- 11 I2 h RAh Right ascension (J2000)
13- 14 I2 min RAm [0/60] Right ascension (J2000)
16 A1 --- DE- Declination sign (J2000)
17- 18 I2 deg DEd [-90/90] Declination (J2000)
20- 29 A10 "YYYY/MM/DD" Obs.Date Date of observation
31- 38 A8 "h:m:s" Obs.Time Time of observation
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Note (1): Sites as follows:
CEDB = Cederberg Observatory, Western Cape, South Africa;
32°29'58" S, 19°15'10" E, Elevation=865m
KOOR = Koornlandskloof Guest Farm, Northern Cape, South Africa;
32°13'34" S, 20°20'48" E, Elevation=1273m
BBE1 = Big Bend National Park, Texas (Rio Grande Village);
29°10'45" N, 102°57'20" W, Elevation=556m
BBE2 = Big Bend National Park, Texas (Grapevine Hills);
29°22'40" N, 103°13'16" W, Elevation=1029m
BBE3 = Big Bend National Park, Texas (Terlingua Abajo);
29°11'57" N, 103°36'14" W, Elevation=677m
FTDV = Near Fort Davis, Texas
30°36'54" N, 103°58'38" W, Elevation=1580m
FRMI = Filion Rd. near Bay Port, MI
43°53'12" N, 83°19'53" W, Elevation=177m
MCLL = McCollum Lake, MI;
44°46'13" N, 83°54'05" W, Elevation=285m
HNFO = Huron National Forest, MI;
44°39'09" N, 83°51'47" W, Elevation=290m
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 25-Mar-2010