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NSF: McMurdo Station (77°51'S, 166°40'E), the main U.S. station in Antarctica, is a coastal station on the volcanic hills at the southern tip of Ross Island, about 3,864 km (2,415 miles) south of Christchurch, New Zealand, and 1,360 km (850 miles) north of the South Pole. The original station was built in 1955 to 1956 for the International Geophysical Year. Today's station is the primary logistics facility for supply of inland stations and remote field camps, and is also the waste management center for much of the U.S. Antarctic Program. Year-round and summer science projects are supported at McMurdo. Its summer population reaches 1100; the winter population of McTown is about 150.
The station has a harbor, landing strips on the sea ice and shelf ice, and a helicopter pad. The station's 85 or so buildings range in size from a small radio shack to large, three-story structures. Repair facilities, dormitories, administrative buildings, a firehouse, power plant, water distillation plant, wharf, stores, clubs, warehouses, a science support center, and the first-class, 4,320 square-meter Crary Lab are linked by above-ground water, sewer, telephone, and power lines. The mean annual temperature is -18°C (0°F). Temperatures may reach 8°C (46°F) in summer and -50°C (-58°F) in winter. The average wind is 12 knots, but winds have exceeded 100 knots. Panorama stitched out of 600 pictures taken with Canon SX10. Vigneting reduced before stitching with VR1.7 http://vignetting.republika.pl/ Post-processed in PhotoShop. Stitcher notes: GigaPan Stitcher version 1.0.0732 (Windows) Panorama size: 3338 megapixels (104132 x 32064) Input images: 600 (40 coluns by 15 rows) Field of view: 100.6 degrees wide by 31.0 degrees high (top=3.1, bottom=-27.9) Settings: use larger blending region Original image properties: Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS Image size: 3648 x 2736 (10.0 megapixels) Capture time: 2010-01-25 14:14:32 – 2010-01-25 15:09:02 Aperture: f/5.7 Exposure time: 0.002 ISO: 80 Focal length (35 mm equiv.): 565.2 mm White balance: Fixed Exposure mode: Manual Horizontal overlap: 17.3 to 49.5 percent Vertical overlap: 19.8 to 47.4 percent Computer stats: 1023.48 MB RAM. 2 CPUs Total time 8:18:14 (50 seconds per picture) Alignment: 6:03:23, Projection: 11:44, Blending: 2:03:08 (Preview finished in 6:39:32) |
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The view looking North from midtown, Manhattan, 48th Street and 70 stories up.
October 12, 2008 |
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The Brocken is the highest point in Central Germany at a little over 1100 meters. This shot is relatively crummy but gives you the general idea of the place. Former Soviet listening post, it was walled off to the public during the cold war years but now is a popular tourist destination. Due to the micro climate the peak produces it was nearly impossible to get full sun for the whole shot, plus it was cold and windy making the shooting uncomfortable. Oh well. At least I got a partially decent shot. Over 760 images all told. |
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This is the north most end of Nine Gun Battery. The focus was set on the close side of the stairs, so the background is not as sharp as it could be. Nine Gun battery is about 1,300 feet long, if you want to see the rest of it take a look at
http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/18344/ Built between 1898 and 1904, three 8” and six 12” guns were used to protect New York Harbor. The battery was decommissioned 1943-44. The observation deck is visible in the top left, to see the view from the deck see http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/39977/ |
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