Discover Milky Way Wonders with This New Infrared Map

A new infrared map of the Milky Way has brilliantly revealed the marvels of our galaxy, showcasing a breathtaking 1.5 billion celestial objects compiled over a span of 13 years. Utilizing the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) VISTA telescope, astronomers gathered an immense 500 terabytes of data that detail various components of our galaxy, including nebulae, globular clusters, stars, planets, and brown dwarfs, among others.

Located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, the VISTA telescope—short for the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy—features an infrared instrument known as VIRCAM. This advanced tool can penetrate through clouds of dust and gas, enabling the observation of astronomical bodies that remain hidden from view in the visible spectrum. Since 2010, astronomers have employed this technology to study the Milky Way, revisiting specific areas of the sky multiple times to track the movements of various objects over time.

This collage highlights a small selection of regions of the Milky Way imaged as part of the most detailed infrared map ever of our galaxy. Here we see, from left to right and top to bottom: NGC 3576, NGC 6357, Messier 17, NGC 6188, Messier 22 and NGC 3603. All of them are clouds of gas and dust where stars are forming, except Messier 22, which is a very dense group of old stars. — This collage showcases a selection of regions of the Milky Way that were captured during the creation of the most detailed infrared map of our galaxy. From left to right and top to bottom, the objects depicted are NGC 3576, NGC 6357, Messier 17, NGC 6188, Messier 22, and NGC 3603. All of these are areas of gas and dust where star formation occurs, with the exception of Messier 22, which is a tightly packed collection of older stars. ESO/VVVX survey

The complete dataset is accessible on the ESO website, allowing users to navigate and zoom into the remarkable representation of the galaxy. Among the features that can be explored are freshly formed stars encased in shrouds of dust, and brown dwarfs—objects that are larger than planets yet insufficiently massive to ignite fusion and qualify as stars.

“We discovered so much that we have fundamentally altered our understanding of the Galaxy,” stated project leader Dante Minniti from Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile, in a statement.

One of the significant findings includes a more precise mapping of the inner Milky Way, a region frequently obscured by dust and bustling with stars, gas, and the supermassive black hole that resides at the galaxy’s core. Researchers also identified extremely fast-moving stars that have been ejected at high velocities after approaching this massive black hole. With the survey now concluded, the team anticipates that this wealth of data will serve as a foundation for scientific breakthroughs for years to come.

“The completion of this project was a tremendous team effort,” remarked Roberto Saito, an astrophysicist at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil.

The findings are detailed in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.