another pictorial diversion is probably bigger than you can imagine

a Manhattan Loft Guy diverting trend continues
This makes the fourth pictorial diversion in the new year on this blog. I started the year with a collection of very many very diverting photos of Manhattan lofts (January 1, some diverting loft porn to stimulate your new year), then hit the very large 3-D photos taken above Manhattan that were thrilling inter-tubers a week ago (January 12, weekend diversion / Manhattan as you’ve never seen it (until this week)), and then went farther afield for a single very high resolution photo of one of the most amazing places on earth (January 13, birthday diversion / Machu Pichu up (very) close). The trend requires a still larger focus, still greater distance from Manhattan, its lofts, and the guy who loves them.

I present for your consideration this Slate Bad Astronomy post about a scannable and zoomable image of a portion of the Milky Way, taken (as it happens) a bit south of Machu Pichu, made up of a billion pixels of information (his bold, not mine). Of course the link to the image is in that post, with the helpful perspective that the entire image, though just a small slice of the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way (my bold there) does manage to capture tens of millions of stars (ditto).

In other words, the image is a star geek’s paradise, and at least visual catnip to the rest of us. Zoom away.

but wait … there’s more!
The Slate Bad Astronomy guy also links to

the GigaGalaxy Zoom project[, which] has other incredible pictures that will melt your brain

Consider yourself warned. (A brain is a terrible thing to melt; perhaps you can start with an ice bag up top.)

© Sandy Mattingly 2013