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An eye - popping Modern image of theMilky Waytook 12 year and 1,250 hours of photographic exposure to create .

The photo mosaic is the work of J - P Metsavainio , a Finnish lensman who specialize in astronomic mental imagery . Metsavainio share his work on his web log , Astro Anarchy Observatory . The mosaic is 100,000 pixels wide , stitched together from 234 case-by-case mosaic panel that cover 125 degree by 22 degree of the night sky .

The Milky Way mosaic is shown here mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue. NOTE, the apparent size of the moon in a lower left corner.

The Milky Way mosaic is shown here mapped colors from the light emitted by an ionized elements, hydrogen = green, sulfur = red and oxygen = blue. The apparent size of the moon is shown in the lower left corner.

When Metsavainio started the photographic process more than a decennium ago , he knew he wanted to make a full whitish Way mosaic , he told Live Science . But each shot that gain up the mosaic was its own piece of artwork , he state .

" At the same clock time , I always kept in my creative thinker the needs of the final declamatory composition , " he sound out .

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Here’s a look at the orientation of the Milky Way mosaic.

Here’s a look at the orientation of the Milky Way mosaic.(Image credit:J-P Metsavainio)

Metsavainio consume his photograph from Finland . He commence the undertaking with a Meade LX200 GPS 12 - inch telescope and a Canon EF 200 - millimetre lens , after upgrade to a customized apparatus he call " the Frankenstein monster , " made of an Apogee Alta U16 camera and a Tokina AT - x 300 - millimeter lens . He then blended the high - answer figure into a mosaic , using Photoshop . This is a complex physical process , he enjoin , because the images are a mix of highly elaborated long - focal - distance frames ( which overstate upstage objects ) and low solvent poor - focal - duration anatomy ( which offer a wider slant of view but less overstatement ) .

By painstakingly conflate these soma together , though , Metsavainio can make a mosaic that is both broad , covering the Milky Way as it looks stretch across the sky , and detailed . His favorite feature , he say , are the extremely dense supernova oddment that his cameras cope to pick up . These remnant from exploded wizard can be photographed only by extremely retentive exposures , in which the camera electron lens is depart capable for hours at a time to allow enough Christ Within to shine through from the object . One remainder , the Cygnus Shell , required 100 hours of exposure to photograph , Metsavainio said . Another , called G65.3 + 5.7 , required 60 hours of exposure . These supernova oddment seem as light blue rings or bubbles amid lustrous orange and yellow stars .

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This image of the Milky Way mosaic shows 234 panels and covers 125 x 22 degrees of the sky.

This image of the Milky Way mosaic shows 234 panels and covers 125 x 22 degrees of the sky.(Image credit:J-P Metsavainio)

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The mosaic also take images of nebulas , mordant holes and flow of gas . There are around 20 million star topology in the mosaic , consort to Metsavainio . The colors come from ionized , or charged , elements , withhydrogenrepresented in green , sulfurin red andoxygenin blue . Placed against the night sky , the mosaic would seem to stretch from the constellation Taurus through Perseus , Cassiopeia , Lacerta and Cygnus .

The supernova remnant G65.3+5.7.

The supernova remnant G65.3+5.7.(Image credit:J-P Metsavainio)

Next , Metsavainio plans to take more recollective - focal - length , highly exaggerate images of the dark sky , using his Milky means mosaic as a map for newfangled compositions .

" As a visual artist , " he tell , " I like to give the great unwashed a optic experience , even if they have no idea what they are looking at . "

in the beginning published on Live Science .

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