PHOTO: ALISTAIR HOBDAY
COSMIC
CAMERAS
The high-resolution GigaPan
camera was initially devel-
oped for NASA’s Curiosity
Mars Rover, to send back
breathtaking panaromas of
the Red Planet. Now, it’s
finding a second life in con-
servation.
A team at Carnegie Mellon
University used a GigaPan to
monitor 100 albatross nests
in the Bass Strait in Tasma-
nia, snapping two panoramic
pics a day over a six-month
period. The images are so
detailed that researchers can
zoom in to view each nest,
enabling them to identify in-
dividual birds and study their
breeding patterns. The pho-
tos can also be viewed
in sequence as a
time-lapse movie.
See panoramas
with your own eyes
at Gigapan.comVol. 8 Issue 5Vol. 8 Issue 5 4545