Larger view. | Part of JP Metsavainio’s new Milky Way mosaic – 125 degrees of sky from Taurus to Cygnus – 2009 to 2021. Image by JP Metsavainio.
JP Metsavainio is a Finnish astrophotographer who launched his mega-project on March 16, 2021: an amazing mosaic of our Milky Way galaxy lying in the night sky. Metsavainio wrote on his blog:
It took almost twelve years to collect enough data for this gigapixel high-resolution mosaic image of the Milky Way. The total exposure time used is approximately 1,250 hours between 2009 and 2021.
He did it all using his own small observatory in Oulu, Finland, with only a 12-inch telescope and photographic equipment. Metsavainio’s Milky Way Panorama consists of 234 individual images, each created by itself as a piece of art. Together, these hours translate into a 1.7 gigapixel image with a length of 100,000 pixels.
In a 125-minute arc that stretches from the Taurus constellation to the constellation Cygnus Swan, Finnish astrophotographer JP Metsavainio took 12 years to photograph and sew together a deep and detailed panorama of our Milky Way galaxy that it stretches across the night sky. Image by JP Metsavainio.
Larger view. | The final panoramic image of the Milky Way stretches over 125 degrees of sky. Metsavainio made this photo mosaic using special filters, allowing only certain wavelengths to pass. As a result, the colors you can see in this image come from the light emitted by 3 ionized elements, ie elements that have lost one or more electrons in their atoms; hydrogen (H-alpha), sulfur (S II) and oxygen (O III). Image by JP Metsavainio.
Sketches of the 234 individual images, photographed for a total of 1,250 hours, which Metsavainio used to create his panorama. Image by JP Metsavainio.
Metsavainio told EarthSky how it all started:
I decided to make a large mosaic image of the Milky Way over 10 years ago. By the time I was aware that it would take at least a decade to complete (and the work is still ongoing). As a visual artist, composing the image means a lot to me. Over the years I have fired hundreds of individual targets from the Milky Way. Each image made is an independent work of art. At the same time, I always kept in mind the needs of the big final composition. It’s like having a short-term plan in action, but at the same time, you have a long-term plan behind it all.
Finnish astrophotographer JP Metsavainio has created a detailed and in-depth panorama of the Milky Way galaxy. Picture through JP Metsavainio.
Metsavainio’s project has recently attracted a lot of attention and rightly so. The details and extreme depth are reminiscent of images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
An illustration of how the landscape has been mosaiced together over time. Image by JP Metsavainio.
Metsavainio’s observatory is located in the center of his hometown, Oulu, on the west coast of Finland and is thus subject to a fair amount of light pollution. This is why he filters the light and measures the so-called narrow band emissions; that is, it lets light through narrow windows at specific optical wavelengths – at the wavelengths of ionized hydrogen (H-alpha), sulfur, and oxygen (S II and O III).
Metsavainio created these images with art in mind first, but in a scientific way. He told EarthSky:
I have no scientific ambitions, but my photographs meet the rules of scientific imaging. They have previously been used for certain scientific purposes and also have this type of value. As a visual artist, I like to give people a visual experience, even if they have no idea what they are looking at.
And the line between science and art can be really good sometimes, especially when it comes to astrophotography. For example, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) presented many of Metsavainio’s images, explaining the science that can be seen in each (recent examples here and here).
We recommend that you visit JP Metsavainio’s website to get into the high-resolution version of the Milky Way panorama and the images that make it up, as well as for more details on how he developed this project.
The following are two plans of regions in the big picture:
Arched arches around a region where a star once exploded are visible on the right side of this image. The remnant of the supernova is called G65.3 + 5.7 and this image required 60 hours of exposure. The moon at the bottom left shows the scale of this image. Image by JP Metsavainio.
The California Nebula, which got its name because it resembles the state of California, is in the lower left corner of the large panoramic image. The moon (below, left) shows the scale of this image. Image by JP Metsavainio.
With simple tools, excellent results can be obtained. Metsavainio used this small observatory in the middle of the Finnish city of Oulu to observe the Milky Way. Image by JP Metsavainio.
Conclusion: Finnish astrophotographer JP Metsavainio spent almost 12 years photographing the Milky Way galaxy and sewing 234 individual frames to form a broad panorama of our galaxy.
Source: Milky Way, 12 years, 1250 hours of exposure and 125 x 22 degrees of sky
