MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (November 15, 2009)--A Michigan scientist has finished a two-year, 26,000-mile mission to assemble a panoramic photo image of the night sky.

Central Michigan University physicist Axel Mellinger pieced together 3,000 individual photographs to create the image of the night sky, with the Milky Way galaxy at the center.

University spokeswoman Tracy Burton says the spread of artificial lighting forced Mellinger to trek to remote areas to find the right spots to shoot the photos.

Locations included South Africa, Texas and the Huron-Manistee National Forest in Michigan.

Mellinger recently presented the panorama at a Great Lakes Planetarium Association conference at Delta College and plans to make his panorama available to planetariums worldwide.