U.S. Air Force Museum’s Gigapixel Panorama Is Aviation Awesomeness

Shot from inside the museum's recently-opened Hangar 4, the 1,030-megapixel image is almost like strolling around between the Space Shuttle, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the XB-70 Valkyrie.
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With a drastic uptake in social media use and increased technology enabling incredible types of streaming video and innovative images, you don’t have to physically attend a museum to get an in-depth tour anymore. Instead, you can hop on the internet and enjoy all the museum has to offer from the comfort of your couch. (That being said, if you live near the museum, get up and go in person.)

For those of you who love aircraft but don’t live near Dayton, Ohio, there’s the U.S. Air Force Museum‘s new, massive 1,030-megapixel picture of their fourth hanger for all to see. (We’ve embedded a couple screen grabs below, but you should really hit the link above to check it out.)

The picture is composed of 115 different images stitched together, and allow users to closely analyze famous aircraft like the SR-71 Blackbird, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70 Valkyrie. Due to the size of the image, users can spend a significant period of time perusing the different cracks and crevasses of the vast hanger and checking out all the cool

The photo was taken with an automated rotating gimble by photographer John Opie and posted on Gigapan, and has been uploaded with high enough resolution that you can read the small text on even the most distant airplanes. And if the massive panorama isn’t your thing, you can choose from one of 60 different 360-degree cockpit views. 

Now we just hope they do the same with the Petersen Automotive Museum.

 

 

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