Announcing the new map of Milky Way 187 million pixels

The research team of the Southern European Observatory (ESO) drew a completely new map of the Milky Way, four times larger than every previous map with 187 million pixels.

They drew this new map with the help of APEX, a newly installed telescope in the Atacama region, on the Chajnantor plateau, Chile, at 5,100 meters above sea level, according to Science Alert. The new map covers a Milky Way region with 140 lengths and 3 widths, bringing information explained in more than 70 different articles.

This is also the first time the galactic plane (Galatic Plane) , where most of the Milky Way mass is concentrated, is captured on the map at smaller wavelengths than mm.

Part of the new Milky Way map.(Photo: ESO / APEX / ATLASGAL).

To take pictures, the team used a range of ultra-sensitive instruments such as large micro-thermometer cameras (LABOCA) , which could "measure incoming radiation through the heat gain obtained on detectors and can detect cold dark dust areas obscuring light from stars ".

This is a technique that allows scientists to capture clouds of gas and dust in the temperature zone right next to absolute zero.

"Cooling down to the absolute zero level, the camera detected small amounts of gas in the dark that cannot be observed with the naked eye , " explained journalist Erin Blakemore.

These results are enhanced by data collected from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Planck satellite, allowing astronomers to scan a larger part of the sky in more detail.

"ATLASGAL has changed our view of the interstellar environment in the Milky Way. The new map also provides data for mining research teams in the next project , " such as the movement of Future solar system, Leonardo Testi, an ATLASGAL executive said.

In addition, with the ability to capture images of super-cold dust clouds, the survey also provides a new perspective on how stars form. However, because the size of Ngan Ha is so big and light years, this map is just a map of the past , not a map at the time of observation.