The full-resolution version of this image is about 49 Megapixels and has a resolution of about 1 arc-second per pixel. The area of sky shown here is about 2,0° x 1,9° (for comparison, the full-Moon disc has an average diameter of about 0,5°). The color composite has been completed on March 12, 2006.
The full-resolution image can generally be obtained. Typical applications are reproduction in books, magazines and periodicals, use for public exhibitions in planetariums, museums, talks, etc. If interested, please read my policy or e-mail me with your request.

Copyright: Davide De Martin.

This color composite image is based on data coming from several photographic plates taken between 1989 and 1991 through the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch (1,2-meter) Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of the second National Geographic Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS II). The photographs were recorded on two type of glass photographic plates - one sensitive to red light and the other to blue - that later were digitized.
Credit: Caltech, Palomar Observatory, Digitized Sky Survey.