Astronomers complete digital survey of heavens
Date: Monday, March 31 @ 05:11:10 CST
Topic: 3. Space News
Astronomers have completed the most thorough high-resolution digital survey of the heavens and released its five million images on the internet.
The map of the sky took four years of observations and £25 million to complete. It contains an estimated 500 million celestial objects, mostly stars but also galaxies, asteroids and comets.
"The public will 'ooh and aah' at the pictures, while scientists will mine the data for decades," Michael Skrutskie, principal investigator for the project, said.
The project's twin telescopes, located in Arizona and Chile, mapped the sky in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Infrared radiation - heat - pierces the dust and gas that shrouds much of the universe from view, allowing the telescopes to see objects that would otherwise be invisible to view.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst led the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Nasa and the National Science Foundation funded the project.
© Associated Press
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