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I love this picture of the Milky Way (imgur.com)

submitted ago by Rguptaingitup

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[–]Moosh2 18 points19 points ago

Does anyone have this in nice background dimensions?

[–]percolater 12 points13 points ago

This was posted in /r/wallpapers not three days ago, in nice 1080p.

Thread here

[–]Bedeone 4 points5 points ago

But they cropped the wrong part out.

[–]percolater 1 point2 points ago

I suppose that's subjective and depends on whether or not you consider the Milky Way or the sunset/rise the focal point of the picture. Personally I like having the brightness from the sun in the middle of the monitor.

[–]Mawds 4 points5 points ago

There we go http://i.minus.com/igTYjVlaA13kK.png

Edit: Another that fits the 16:10 ratio better http://i.minus.com/i6C7ptsPRTvu.png

[–]nebulae123 2 points3 points ago

It was also on /r/photography a day ago. Upvote the author's link below for justice.

[–]ab2650 30 points31 points ago

From http://floriansphotographs.blogspot.com/

"Canon 40D, Tokina 11-16, 16x30sec, f/2.8. ISO 3200, Nodal Ninja"

[–]LochnessDigital 5 points6 points ago

I love that lens.

[–]zShwagg 0 points1 point ago

I'd buy it if it didn't cost as much as the camera I own.

[–]LochnessDigital 0 points1 point ago

Worth it.

[–]mccrevice 44 points45 points ago

Was I the only one who expected a troll picture of a candy bar in the horizon?

[–]Misscreeper 9 points10 points ago

I was expecting a candy bar.

[–]polloenlaplaya 2 points3 points ago

here let me [fix] that for you

[–]lemony_snicket 4 points5 points ago

That's odd seeing that as a UK redditor, Our milky ways are so different, I think that may be what we call a mars bar.

[–]kanker-knubbe 2 points3 points ago

Indeed.

[–]marcusb92 1 point2 points ago

As an Australian ours are also different, but I cannot be bothered linking an image :) good day sir.

[–]Misscreeper 0 points1 point ago

ahh, thank you, soothes my hungry mind. :P

[–]vuls 16 points17 points ago

The Quiver Tree Forest (Kokerboom Woud in Afrikaans) is a forest and a well-known tourist attraction of southern Namibia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiver_Tree_Forest

[–]papasmurf31 50 points51 points ago

When you look at pictures like this today it makes it easy to see why people were so religious back then, before there was an understanding of space and science.

[–]MrBoog 89 points90 points ago

But they didn't have long exposures back then either.

[–]euric 63 points64 points ago

They didn't have light pollution either.

[–]MrDaddy 37 points38 points ago

Can't see this level of detail without a camera.

[–]generallypositive 40 points41 points ago

As someone who's spent significant time in the country, away from light pollution, while the view might not be the same, it is far, far more majestic than any photograph could hope to capture.

[–]MrDaddy 22 points23 points ago

It looks nothing like this. Waaaay more awesome than you will ever see in a city. But nowhere near this awesome.

[–]meeeeoooowy 10 points11 points ago

Seeing something in person tends to be a little more awesome than on your computer screen while sitting on your couch. Even if it's Photoshop'd and has a long exposure.

[–]shoulderdestruction 1 point2 points ago

Planting this here since the thread as a whole is a bit older.

In all fairness it's amazing that we are the Milky Way, which is part of the universe experiencing itself.

Awe inspiring.

[–]naullo 2 points3 points ago

How to get free karma on reddit... Just post "we are the universe experiencing itself".

Works even better on /r/atheism.

[–]EverythingInTransit -3 points-2 points ago

Thank you, I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates that universe experiencing itself shit.

Makes everything seem so trivial and de-motivates me.

[–]asherrd 3 points4 points ago

Seeing a sight like this in person, even though you won't technically see as much, is a far greater experience than seeing an image of it, even if the image is touched up to look cooler.

[–]lynchmobster -2 points-1 points ago

Doesn't matter. You'd never see this with the naked eye. Images like this are only possible due to long exposure photography. If you look at the stars, they're all smudged streaks due to the fact it was a long exposure shot.

[–]mgcornea 1 point2 points ago

As a physicist, and firm believer in the hard sciences and mathematics, it's still easy to see why people like me find some kind of spiritual connection (for lack of a better term) when looking into the heart of the galaxy.

[–]TedtheTeddyBear -2 points-1 points ago

Irreducible Complexity people!

[–]Rguptaingitup[S] 10 points11 points ago

For people asking how to see views like this one, there are definitely easy ways to see something like this (although will never capture the quality/level of the photograph). While I am no expert at all, I have tried these suggestions below and had success.

Best advice I can give: 1. Get away from city lights (or a large amount of collective lights). Getting away from "light pollution" is key. I would typically recommend 40-50 away from a city. 2. Get elevated. Go up to a mountain or a big hill if its near where you're trying to star gaze. The best view I have ever seen of the Milky Way was on top of Mt. Haleakala in Hawaii. 3. Make sure there is no overheard cloud coverage. This is one of the most frustrating things when one goes out star gazing. 4. To optimize your viewing of the Milky Way, make sure there isn't a full moon in the sky. A full moon will make it nearly impossible to see the milky way. 5. Let your eyes adjust. If at first you don't succeed, give your eyes about 20 minutes to adjust and something may appear.

With cities and towns sprouting up all over the world now a days, many people haven't seen this in their life time but I would recommend that everyone atleast views this once in their life. It is really life changing.

TL;DR Advice on how to see clear pictures of the milky way

[–]Chester_Copperpot_ 10 points11 points ago

photographers blog with extensive tutorial.

[–]perkel666 0 points1 point ago

basically you won't see it like this in real life. Sort of like photoshop on models

[–]alfiekong 2 points3 points ago

Wow but surely it can't be anywhere near as good as the photo? As its long exposure?

[–]Rguptaingitup[S] 6 points7 points ago

It doesn't look like the picture...but in my opinion it's about 10 times better seeing it in person. Hard to describe it but its a pretty intense feeling.

[–]roxie1127 2 points3 points ago

NEAT

[–]31stPhoenix 2 points3 points ago

Stunning..

[–]dastardlylemon 1 point2 points ago

This picture is amazing. For those wondering how the photographer achieved this, he posted his process here.

[–]Dorolk 3 points4 points ago

Tell me i can witness this with my own eyes if i go there... please do...

[–]alfiekong 5 points6 points ago

Nope long exposure. Sorry buddy.

[–]intisun 0 points1 point ago

Not like that, but on a really really dark sky, that means no moon and no big cities nearby, taking time to get used to the dark, you can have an awe-inspiring view of the galaxy.

[–]reemusk 5 points6 points ago

Here's 27 awesome pictures from that set

[–]ParticipleDangler 18 points19 points ago

Here's the actual set, if you don't really care about THE WEIGHT LOSS MIRACLE OBAMA WANTS TO KEEP SECRET.

[–]Garacian00 0 points1 point ago

definitely expected a candy bar

[–]Gamion 1 point2 points ago

Delicious

[–]FREEEEDOMMM 0 points1 point ago

Does the sky actually ever look like this to the naked eye? Or is it just a high exposure camera? I've never seen anything like it in real life

[–]intisun 0 points1 point ago

It's a long exposure, so it doesn't appear like that to the naked eye, but if you're in a dark sky with no cities nearby, the view is still amazing.

[–]CanotSpel 0 points1 point ago

now my background

[–]MekkaLekkaHigh 1 point2 points ago

Hey, I was wondering if anyone knew why the Milky-way appears to curve in this picture? From what I understand, spiral galaxies should be a straight line if viewed edge on.

[–]N7Maddeh 0 points1 point ago

Your mother likes my milky way.

ohhhh

[–]Great_Gig_In_The_Sky 1 point2 points ago

Is that Andromeda and M32 as well?

[–]intisun 1 point2 points ago

If you meant he two blots on the left, those are the Magellanic clouds, two dwarf galaxies very close to our own.

[–]Great_Gig_In_The_Sky 0 points1 point ago

Ahhh ok. That was my next guess.

[–]Geikamir 0 points1 point ago

Dibbs

[–]sittty 0 points1 point ago

almost the perfect wallpaper- except for the URL in the corner...

[–]evolvish 0 points1 point ago

Anyone else see grumpy cats face? HE IS OUR SAVIOR!

[–]cuteman 0 points1 point ago

There's so much light pollution in the modern age, makes you wonder about the amazing unabridged scenes the ancients saw in the sky!

Most people in major areas have never seen a sky like this unless they've gone camping or something.

[–]mfih1989 0 points1 point ago

The Milky Way looks sad

[–]intisun 0 points1 point ago

It's all bent out of shape. Frankly in these panoramic views I'd prefer the landscape to be bent and the galaxy to be kept flat.

[–]pics-or-didnt-happen 0 points1 point ago

Strange... This is my current desktop.

[–]custardnom 0 points1 point ago

Thanks for the new background.

[–]ChronicElectronic 0 points1 point ago

Come on Reddit, ruin this picture for me by telling me it's shopped. I swear every time something like this comes up someone ruins it by describing how it's fake.

[–]intisun 3 points4 points ago

It's not, it's just a long exposure panorama. So the galaxy is distorted; in reality it's flat like this: http://howardgamble.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Milky-Way-panorama.jpg

[–]ChronicElectronic 0 points1 point ago

That is still really cool.

[–]OhhhhhDirty 1 point2 points ago

It's not fake at all, just 12 long-exposure pictures stitched together to make a panorama. Cameras can collect much more light than we can.

[–]ChronicElectronic 0 points1 point ago

Cool. I've just learned to be skeptical about photos I see here on Reddit.

[–]QiBreezy 0 points1 point ago

Save!

[–]Justin007isback 0 points1 point ago

Brace yourselves. The [FIXED] pictures with a candy bar are coming!

[–]humongous 0 points1 point ago

dat MW

[–]MAD_HAMMISH 1 point2 points ago

Just so we can have a smartass in the thread, I am obliged to point out that the actual viewable portion of the Milky Way in this picture is so infinitesimally small compared to it's overall size that the actual scale is on the outer edges (or completely nonexistent) of normal mathematics. Ergo, it would make more sense to say this was a picture of the Orian Spiral Arm at most.

Also, great picture.

[–]Spartanwar 1 point2 points ago

We're in a rock. Hurtling through space. Wtttffffff

[–]ShadUpJoe 0 points1 point ago

I want to go to there.

[–]AlpakaWhacker 0 points1 point ago

One Word: Stunning

[–]4thekarma 0 points1 point ago

Expecting a candy bar, got a good picture. Today, is a day.

[–]Sauraku 0 points1 point ago

This just made me realise that The Elder Scrolls does indeed take place in our galaxy.

[–]dannyONEway 0 points1 point ago

if using RES and you drag to resize the image, you can see the stars twinkle

[–]TMIguy 0 points1 point ago

That's been my dual monitor wallpaper for a few days now...

[–]locrlwt 0 points1 point ago

You do realize this isn't possible.

[–]OhhhhhDirty 0 points1 point ago

What's not possible? Oh right, because you haven't seen or done something before surely it must be impossible. That's a shit attitude to have. Do some research, it's very possible and this particular image was done with a 40D (which is a joke compared to more recent cameras).

[–]Lampmonster1 0 points1 point ago

Aren't most pictures of the Milky Way?

[–]frenchelection 0 points1 point ago

Was expecting a candy bar

[–]DividedSky05 0 points1 point ago

Almost Instant Africa. Just needs a giraffe.

[–]Satchifunkilus 0 points1 point ago

i was really expecting this to be a picture of a candy bar

[–]Junior5150 0 points1 point ago

If I could take a picture like that I would be in business. But I live in the city so I don't see anything at night besides maybe one or two stars.stupid light pollution.

[–]stylus2000 0 points1 point ago

southern hemisphere.

[–]ProfBirch 0 points1 point ago

Anyone got this in 1366X768 thanks :)

[–]IndieHippyXo 0 points1 point ago

When I see Milky Way I still think of the chocolate bar!

[–]musasa15 0 points1 point ago

How do we know what the milky way looks like and where we are in it if we haven't even had a man on mars?

[–]O_oblivious 0 points1 point ago

I think the folks at r/frisson would really enjoy this.

[–]KITTEN_FETISH 1 point2 points ago

Spectacular.

[–]DvineINFEKT -1 points0 points ago

Wait - I know this is going to sound incredibly stupid but this isn't shopped? The source shows only minimal processing...

I've spent my entire life in major cities. Is this what I've been missing? I mean, of course I've seen pictures of space and pictures of the cosmos and whatever - I mean there was the guy posting the auroras this morning even. Never seen a photo quite like this though. Not presented like this one.

It's so fucking incredible and beautiful.

[–]mossyskeleton 0 points1 point ago

Not quite to this extent, but yes, you can see the Milky Way with your naked eyes if you're in the right place at the right time..

Go camping! :)

[–]cpu_outlet -3 points-2 points ago

No, one hundred percent shopped. I did a similar thing in Visual communications class five years ago in high school. Even outside of a city, nobody would be able to see the nebulae that well. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[–]Thereal_Sandman 5 points6 points ago

Actually it's called stacking, and it's pretty standard in astrophotography.

When you take long exposures with a digital camera the sensor heats up and you get dead pixels. If you stack images (usually 15-30) there is software that can extract the dead pixels.

This is just long exposures (and maybe a bit of light painting with a low power flashlight on the trees), not faked with photoshop).

If you go to a dark sky site, have good light discipline, and let your eyes adjust, you can get amazing detail with just bare eyes.

I dunno about the nebulae, I've never seen them like that, but I've never been to Africa either.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

There is great visibility if you camp at the arches national park. The light pollution has a long fade away, you have to be very, very far away from major light sources of a city before you'll see something like this.

[–]cpu_outlet 0 points1 point ago

I'm just saying, there is absolutely NO WAY you would be able to get that amount of color and detail in the nebulae with a camera. That's my tip off. It is a nice picture to be sure and I wish it could be real but I'm just not convinced. It's a conspiracy!!

[–]Thereal_Sandman 0 points1 point ago

A c-o-n-spiracy?

[–]OhhhhhDirty 0 points1 point ago

You obviously haven't tried this before with a camera that does well in low-light (and this was taken with a 40D which is ancient compared to some of the newer stuff). Of course it will look better after post-processing but you'll still be able to see the majority of what you see in the picture now. It's best to try during the new moon since it's the darkest. You have to understand when it's truly pitch black outside the only light the camera's sensor can collect is from the stars, the longer you leave the shutter open the more you can see. I've even done it 5 miles outside of the city with terrible light pollution and could still see a faint outline of the spiral arm of the Milky Way.

Here is what this image looked like before she did any post-processing (aside from stitching the 12 pictures together). Cameras can see a whole lot more than we can and can collect and compound light to give you images like these.

[–]DvineINFEKT 1 point2 points ago

I am beyond relieved. It looks like he just took 30-sec exposures, stitched em together and then HDR'd it.

Doesn't make the photo less beautiful to me, but my god I would have felt like something in my life was completely missing if THAT was right above my head this whole time and I had never even noticed it.

[–]johntmssf 1 point2 points ago

Thereal_Sandman 2 points 1 hour ago (2|0)

"Actually it's called stacking, and it's pretty standard in astrophotography. When you take long exposures with a digital camera the sensor heats up and you get dead pixels. If you stack images (usually 15-30) there is software that can extract the dead pixels. This is just long exposures (and maybe a bit of light painting with a low power flashlight on the trees), not faked with photoshop). If you go to a dark sky site, have good light discipline, and let your eyes adjust, you can get amazing detail with just bare eyes. I dunno about the nebulae, I've never seen them like that, but I've never been to Africa either."

i resposted that to your comment incase you didn't see it - this is the actual answer - he didn't just paint stars on or anything - its just stacking. you wouldn't see quite this impressive of a view with your naked eye - but you'd see a lot more than you'd ever see in any urbanized area - enough to gob-smack you at minimum.

[–]cpu_outlet 0 points1 point ago

No, believe me, it is a nice picture but i am certain it is shopped. Everyone else wants to believe it's not though.

[–]OhhhhhDirty 0 points1 point ago

When you say "shopped" do you mean simply tweaked in photoshop or completely artificially created in photoshop? Because here's step by step what she did see for yourself.

[–]cpu_outlet 0 points1 point ago

Tweaked. That is some heavy tweaking though.

[–]alfiekong 1 point2 points ago

It's from the NASA app.

[–]skjoe 1 point2 points ago

I also enjoy pictures posted a few days ago.

[–]redlaserpanda -1 points0 points ago

Repost.

[–]alfiekong -1 points0 points ago

I too, have the NASA app.

[–]Nu773r -1 points0 points ago

I think this picture is better: http://i.imgur.com/XHPgh.jpg

[–]nbshark -4 points-3 points ago

then you're in for a treat!