How did Bungie get the galaxy in the "Ark" level?

Community Halo Universe
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Since the game came out, I have been wondering how Bungie created the Milky Way galaxy on the “Ark” level. Was the galaxy taken from a NASA photo or just created by Bungie themselves? If it did originate from a NASA photo, what galaxy would it actually be?

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> 2533274806469514;1:
> Since the game came out, I have been wondering how Bungie created the Milky Way galaxy on the “Ark” level. Was the galaxy taken from a NASA photo or just created by Bungie themselves? If it did originate from a NASA photo, what galaxy would it actually be?

It’s likely just a photo representation of our Milky Way Galaxy.

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> 2533274879757912;2:
> > 2533274806469514;1:
> > Since the game came out, I have been wondering how Bungie created the Milky Way galaxy on the “Ark” level. Was the galaxy taken from a NASA photo or just created by Bungie themselves? If it did originate from a NASA photo, what galaxy would it actually be?
>
> It’s likely just a photo representation of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Given that we cannot see the own shape of our galaxy due to our presence within it, this is incorrect. The Milky Way is largely thought to resemble UGC 12158, which has very little resemblance to the galaxy seen in Halo 3.

Instead, the galaxy in the skybox of the Ark was made using the galaxies NGC-1300 and NGC-1073 as bases.

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> 2533274838418174;3:
> > 2533274879757912;2:
> > > 2533274806469514;1:
> > > Since the game came out, I have been wondering how Bungie created the Milky Way galaxy on the “Ark” level. Was the galaxy taken from a NASA photo or just created by Bungie themselves? If it did originate from a NASA photo, what galaxy would it actually be?
> >
> > It’s likely just a photo representation of our Milky Way Galaxy.
>
> Given that we cannot see the own shape of our galaxy due to our presence within it, this is incorrect. The Milky Way is largely thought to resemble UGC 12158, which has very little resemblance to the galaxy seen in Halo 3.
>
> Instead, the galaxy in the skybox of the Ark was made using the galaxies NGC-1300 and NGC-1073 as bases.

Interesting, did Bungie say this themselves at some point?

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I’d assume they used their own creative freedom while drawing inspiration from concepts and supposed actualities of what our galaxy may look like, but that’s only a guess.