May 25, 2017

Capturing the Night Sky, featuring the work of Central Michigan University physics professor Axel Mellinger, is a new summer exhibition at the Delta College Planetarium and Learning Center.
 
Astrophotography is the art of photographing anything not on this earth.  Subjects include planets, the sun, moon, asteroids, comets, the Milky Way, other galaxies, satellites and vast numbers of intriguing, nebulous objects such as dust clouds, planetary nebulae and supernovae remnants. Astrophotography also requires lengthy exposure times to capture faint objects in space. These exposure times range from minutes to hours, so that the astrophotographer must rely on polar mounts, fast optics and sensitive photographic media.
 
Featuring deep space images taken from both the northern and southern hemispheres, Mellinger’s photography includes a wide variety of objects including the Southern Cross, the Pleiades Star Cluster, the Veil Nebula and Comet Ikeya-Zhang. One of the highlights of the exhibit is an 8-foot-wide panorama of the Milky Way, stitched together by Mellinger from over 3000 individual frames taken over a two year period.
 
Also featured will be timelapse night sky sequences taken by Mellinger from Devil’s Tower National Monument and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
 
Dr. Axel Mellinger is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Central Michigan University. While his principal field of research is the study of electret polymers for pressure and temperature sensors, his other interest is astrophotography, with emphasis on large wide-angle panorama images and time-lapse photography. Mellinger’s All-Sky Panoramas have been featured on NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" website and used for illustrating the first discoveries of gravitational waves. A color photographic star atlas based on the latest panorama has been published in English and German.
 
The exhibit is located in the main lobby of the Delta College Planetarium and is accessible during the planetarium’s normal operating hours. The show is free of charge and runs through August 21, 2017. The planetarium is located at 100 Center Avenue in downtown Bay City. For more information, go to www.delta.edu/planetarium or call 989-667-2260.