|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amundsen Scott Station is a cold, isolated community of scientists and support personel at the bottom of the world, the South Pole.
This is a peculiar place. Anywhere you look, you really are looking north. The station has an alpha entrance on one end and a zulu entrance on the other end. Both of them are, in reality, north entrances. Each year has only one sunrise and one sunset. From the Spring Equinox to the Fall Equinox, the sun never sets. The rest of the year the sun is below the horizon. It is cold here. Actually it is the highest, driest, coldest place that I have visited. You can see some of the research buildings in this panorama. There is also evidence of people at play. You can have fun looking around this photograph without worrying about frostbite. Believe it or not, this is the view from the window of my new office. Of course, it faces north. The 21 images of this panorama were photographed with a Nikon D80 and stitched with Autopano Pro. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
http://GigapanMagazine.org vol 1 issue 2
Here is a panorama of the Amundsen Scott South Pole Station on the evening of December 31, 2008. The snowy landscape around the Pole is fairly quiet, as almost everyone is getting ready for the New Year’s Eve party in the gymnasium of the elevated station. We have not yet taken apart our Christmas tree, and the 2008 Pole marker remains in the snow where it was placed on January 1 of last year. Tomorrow during a 1pm ceremony, the Geographic Pole marker will change to its 2009 version, which was designed and made by the 2008 overwinter crew. The new marker will be set onto a post in a new hole in the ice that is located about 30 feet closer to the Dome. The American Flag and the sign with its brief written accounts of Amundsen's and Scott's arrival at the Pole will move along with it. The South Pole Station is situated on top of the largest sheet of ice on Planet Earth. The elevated station, the Dome, and everything else that you see here drift a little bit toward grid northwest each day. Once each year the location of the Geographic Pole is officially corrected to place it once again over the axis of rotation of the planet. In 2008, we use GPS to confirm the location of the Pole. All of this constant, predictable glacial motion and the annual marker movement create an interesting pastime for the crew and visitors to the station, especially for the folks who brought their own GPS’s to the Pole. In the summer of 1911-12, Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott had a much more difficult time confirming that they and their parties had in fact arrived at 90 degrees south latitude. On the left of the image you see the ice-carving efforts of some of the station crew. They have been working on these giant blocks for several weeks, and their art will be judged on January 4. The ambient temperature, which has now risen to approach 0 degrees Fahrenheit, makes ice carving a comfortable exercise, as long as the wind is fairly calm. It looks like they had some great ideas and that they have been busy at their task. Which carving would earn your vote? The 30 images of this panorama were photographed with a Nikon D 80 and stitched with Autopano Pro. Please enjoy The South Pole on New Year's Eve 2008. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THIS IS MY FIRST EVER GIGAPAN: The Royal Burgh Standard Bearer James Cheyne casts the Burgh Flag at the culmination of the Common Riding festivities followed by six other standard bearers. The one on this photo is Hammerman Jason Hendrie. (sorry Jason you moved between shots). The Burgh Standard bearer represents the one man (Fletcher) who returned to the town after the Battle of Flodden in 1513, bringing with him an English flag. The ceremony is preceded by one of the largest horse and rider cavalcades in Europe ( up to 600 horses have taken part some years) They leave the town, led by the Standard Bearer, at 7 am and ride the boundaries of the town land, returning at the entrance to Selkirk and then marching behind the bands to the town centre for this moving ceremony. Try http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=26053 and http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=26062 too.http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=25995
See video of the ceremony at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8En98D57CA0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
http://GigapanMagazine.org vol 1 issue 2
Contributors: Billy Stiner, Nathan Greenland and Rose Science is the purpose of our presence at the bottom of the world, and there are certainly a lot of scientists here, but people arrive at the South Pole with a variety of job skills that are needed for building or operating Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The two gentlemen pictured here are finishing the A-1 roof of the new elevated station. Most of the 13 summer siding carps left the South Pole before the last plane flew away on February 16, but these two carpenters will remain for the winter. This afternoon, they are working in the fading daylight, alone in the cold on a very big roof. February 27 was a beautiful clear day at the South Pole. The temperature was -52 degrees Fahrenheit. The wind was fairly constant around 9 knots and blowing from grid northeast. The wind chill was in the -80's. My camera protested with only 120 shots today, despite an extra battery warming in an inside coat pocket between panoramas. There is a lot of emphasis on safety here. You will notice the harnesses that secure my friends to the cable that runs down the center of the roof where they are working. They are about 50 feet above the surrounding ice and snow. The walking surface can get very slippery, and it is difficult to maneuver in the layers of clothing and boots that we wear outside. Even with the canvas lean-to providing some shelter from the wind, they need to be careful to avoid frostbite and hypothermia as sunset approaches and falling temperatures bring greater risk of injury. Carpenters' tools, like my camera, work better in warmer temperatures. When the sun sets below the horizon next month, these two carpenters will come inside the station to work. Their job probably won't be as difficult, and the view won't be as spectacular, but these carpenters will still be very extraordinary people who are working in a very extraordinary place. The 34 images of this panorama were photographed with a reluctant Nikon D80 and stitched with Autopano Pro. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It has been almost a century since Antarctic Explorers bound for the South Pole used Discovery Hut as a haven from the the fierce weather that they encountered on the continent's edge.
The Discovery Hut was built in 1901 by the Discovery Expedition which was lead by Robert Falcon Scott. Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition used the hut in 1908. Scott used it again during this 1910-1914 Terra Nova Expedition and his attempt at the Pole. Among other occupants during this expedition, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Dr. Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers used the hut on their return from the Emperor Penguin colony at Cape Crozier. The last expedition to use it was Ernest Shackleon's Ross Sea Party in 1917. After that, the hut was abandoned, and Antarctica filled it and buried it in a protective blanket of snow. In 1956, the hut was rediscovered and dug out of the snow. The extreme cold of Antarctica had preserved it well, and artifacts including foods and clothes were found in very good condition. Although some of the artifacts were removed as souvenirs, there are enough clues remaining to provide an interesting glimpse of the lives of Antarctic explorers. Please discover for yourself some of the items from the Golden Age of Antarctic exploration, as they are seen today in Discovery Hut. The 14 images of this panorama were photographed with a Nikon D-80 and stitched with Autopano Pro. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The St. Louis, MO skyline taken on the grounds of the Gateway Arch, or, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. In the center is the Old Courthouse, site of the 1856 Dred Scott case. The stitcher had a hard time making a coherent Arch, sadly. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This panorama was taken by Scott Parazynski on 7 May 2009 at IMG Camp II on Mt. Everest in Nepal at an elevation of 6,600 meters (21,500 feet). A GigaPan Epic and Canon PowerShot G9 were used. This image is 330 degree panorama. The SD card in use was of insufficient size to capture a full 360 degrees.
Begining at far left you can observe a small portion of the west face of Everest, with a backdrop of clouds just behind Lhotse (the dark summit just inset from the border; this is the 4th highest mountain in the world). Just below Lhotse is the steep Lhotse Face, the standard approach to the summit of Everest; The photograph was taken early in the season, so Camp III (between 24,000 and 24,500 feet above sea level) has not yet been established. If you zoom in tightly, however, you can see remnants of the 2008 post-monsoon climbing route: a diagonal cut coarsing up towards the Yellow Band (a limestone band of rock at roughly 25,000 feet) is still present. Moving to the right you can see some of the sub-peaks of Lhotse, followed by the intimidating Nupstse, with hanging glaciers and heavily crevassed features. The low point in the skyline is the location of the Western Cwm, the valley than connects Camp II to Camp I, the Khumbu Icefall and Everest Base Camp. On the far right of the frame is the very steep and hulking west face of Everest. Camp II is in the foreground, dominated by the cook and dining tents of the International Mountain Guides and Himex mountaineering teams. This picture was taken as part of the coverage of astronaut Scott Parazynski's climb (Everest Updates online at http://onorbit.com/everest ) in coordination with Keith Cowing and the Challenger Center for Space Science Education ( http://www.challenger.org ) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shot from near the old boat ramp at Compo Beach in mid-afternoon. My first Gigapan image with the Gigapan Epic and the Canon G9.
There's no EXIF or info embedded as the Stitcher made an upside down pano that I had to flip in PSCS3. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is taken from the top of Observation Hill between the US McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One of two twin lecture halls that take up most of the building space in the back portion of Scott Hall. These classrooms can seat a little more than 400 students at a time. Classes such as Theater Appreciation, Introduction to Communication and other highly popular classes are taught here.
Visit http://whereru.rutgers.edu to see more Gigapans from the whereRU project. |