Portrait of the Galaxy

I stumbled across this REALLY cool picture on Friday and I want to make sure as many people see it as possible because it’s so cool!  A group of UK astronomers just recently compiling ten years worth of data and observations from two different telescopes to form a panoramic view of the Milk Way.  The panoramic is shot in the infrared wavelength which allows us to see past the dust that clouds much of the galaxy to reveal the detail of billions of stars!  If you want to be amazed for several hours check out the interactive version that lets you zoom in and out!

The Milky Way edge-on in infrared Mike Read (WFAU), UKIDSS/GPS and VVV

The data used to create this stunning portrait used two telescopes and ten years worth of observations.  The UK Infrafed Telescope compiled the data for the right side and the Vista telescope in Chile gathered the data for the left side and the galactic center.  You can use the interactive version to find many deep sky objects like globular and open clusters as well as nebulae.  The dark patches represent areas for which data has not yet been collected.  You can read the original BBC article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17539315.  Here’s to many happy hours of intrigue!