Scientists make most detailed ever infrared map of the Milky Way, changing view of our galaxy

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy telescope, the scientists monitored the central regions of the Milky Way for more than 13 years. Dante Minniti, an astrophysicist at Universidad Andres Bello in Chile who led the overall project, said: “We made so many discoveries, we have changed the view of our galaxy forever.” The data covers an area the sky equivalent to 8,600 full moons, and contains about 10 times more objects than a previous map released by the same team back in 2012. The huge infrared map comes in at 500 terabytes of data, making it the largest observational project ever carried out with an ESO telescope. Dr Oscar Gonzalez, senior project scientist at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre and co-author on the new Astronomy and Astrophysics paper, said: “The completion of the largest infrared map of the Milky Way is a remarkable achievement for the astronomy community.