Astronomers using ESO’s 4.1-m Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) have catalogued more than 84 million stars in the central parts of the Milky Way.
This striking view of the central parts of the Milky Way was obtained with the VISTA survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile (ESO / VVV Consortium / Ignacio Toledo / Martin Kornmesser)
“By observing in detail the myriads of stars surrounding the center of the Milky Way we can learn a lot more about the formation and evolution of not only our galaxy, but also spiral galaxies in general,” said team leader Dr Roberto Saito of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Milky Way Galaxy has a large concentration of ancient stars surrounding the center that astronomers call the bulge. Understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way’s bulge is vital for understanding the Galaxy as a whole. However, obtaining detailed observations of this region is not an easy task.
A new nine-gigapixel zoomable image of 84 million stars gives an incredible view of the central part of our galaxy.
“Observations of the bulge of the Milky Way are very hard because it is obscured by dust,” said co-author Dr Dante Minniti of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. “To peer into the heart of the galaxy, we need to observe in infrared light, which is less affected by the dust.”
The large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive infrared detectors of ESO’s VISTA make it by far the best tool for this job. The team is using data from the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea programme (VVV), one of six public surveys carried out with VISTA.
The data have been used to create a monumental 108,200 by 81,500 pixel color image containing nearly nine gigapixels. This is one of the biggest astronomical images ever produced.
The team has now used these data to compile the largest catalogue of the central concentration of stars in the Milky Way ever created.
