40,000 hours spent drawing the universe... See the most detailed image of our galaxy in history

 

science

40,000 hours spent drawing the universe... See the most detailed image of our galaxy in history

For the first time in history, astronomers have revealed the largest low-frequency color image of the Milky Way galaxy, showing our galaxy as never seen before, with its stellar explosions, gas clouds, and star-forming basins, in stunning detail.

The creation of this image took 18 months and more than 40,000 working hours, and its data was collected from millions of radio signals coming from deep space, in a scientific achievement that redraws the map of our galaxy, according to a study published in the Australian Astronomical Society Publications and quoted by the Daily Mail.

The image, prepared by scientists from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, showed the southern part of the sky.
The galaxy was also revealed across a wide range of radio wavelengths, or what is known as "radio light colors".
Astronomers focus on radio waves because they reveal an aspect of the universe that visible light cannot, allowing them to see through clouds of gas and dust to follow the birth of stars and the structure of galaxies.

More vivid and richer in color

The image has given scientists new ways to study the birth, evolution, and death of stars within our galaxy.
When compared to images captured with visible light, the radio version shows more vivid details and richer colors.
The new image also features double the resolution, ten times the sensitivity, and covers twice the area compared to a previous image released in 2019.

“The image offers an unparalleled perspective of our galaxy at low radio frequencies, and gives us valuable insights into the evolution of stars, including how they form in different regions of the galaxy, their interaction with other celestial bodies, and their inevitable end,” said researcher Silvia Mantovannini, a PhD student at Curtin University, which is part of the center.
Mantovannini explained: "You can easily distinguish the remains of exploded stars, which appear as large red circles, while the small blue areas represent star-forming basins where new stars are actively being formed."

Mantovannini relied on supercomputers to build the image, which processed and compiled data from two large-scale surveys using the Murchison Widefield Array telescope in Western Australia.
Mantovannini's research focuses on supernova remnants, which are clouds of gas and energy that expand after a star explodes at the end of its life.

Discovery of massive astronomical structures

Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker, a research associate at the center and supervisor of the GLEAM-X project, said: "This low-frequency image allows us to reveal massive astronomical structures within our galaxy that are difficult to image at higher frequencies. No low-frequency radio image covering the entire southern galactic plane has ever been published before, making this an exciting scientific achievement in astronomy."

In parallel, the research team pointed out that this significant improvement in accuracy, sensitivity, and range of the sky covered allows for a more in-depth and comprehensive study of the Milky Way galaxy.
Although hundreds of these remains have been discovered so far, scientists believe that thousands more are still waiting to be discovered.

The image allows differentiation between the gas surrounding new stars and that left behind by dead stars, revealing clearer patterns in the cosmic landscape.
The image may also help to unlock the secrets of pulsars in our galaxy.
By measuring their brightness at different frequencies within the GLEAM-X project, scientists hope to gain a deeper understanding of how these mysterious objects emit their radio waves and their locations in the galaxy.