Posted: 01.02.2023 14:25:00

Astronomers prepared map of Galaxy with 3.32 billion stars and other objects

An international team of astronomers used images from the 570-megapixel DECam astronomical camera to compile the most detailed map of the Milky Way so far, showing over 3.32 billion celestial objects present in the disk of our galaxy, with the work being published in The Astrophysical Journal, TASS reports

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“Combining our images with those from the automated Pan-STARRS telescope enabled us to obtain a complete 360-degree view of the entire disk of the Milky Way, including a large number of extremely dim stars. The resulting catalogue enables us to map and study the three-dimensional structure of the Galaxy, as well as the distribution of dust clusters and the stars in it with incredibly high accuracy,” said Andrew Saijari, a researcher at Harvard University (USA).

The most powerful astronomical camera DECam (Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey) was created in 2013 as part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) project to search for traces of the existence of dark energy. The ultra-high sensitivity of this camera, installed at the Chilean Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, makes it possible to use this scientific instrument for other purposes, including studying objects in the solar system and the Milky Way.