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A Billion Stars, One Photo

Huffington Post UK  |  By Posted: 29/03/2012 08:16 Updated: 29/03/2012 08:29

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Around one billion stars in the Milky Way can be seen together for the first time in an image captured over a decade by astronomers.

Scientists produced the picture by combining infra-red light images from two telescopes in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Astronomers from the UK and Chile gathered the data which was then processed and archived by teams at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge who, in turn, have made it available to studies around the world.

Dr Nick Cross, of the University of Edinburgh's school of physics and astronomy, said: "This incredible image gives us a new perspective of our galaxy and illustrates the far-reaching discoveries we can make from large sky surveys.

"Having data processed, archived and published by dedicated teams leaves other scientists free to concentrate on using the data and is a very cost-effective way to do astronomy."

Dr Cross said the archived information on the billions of stars, known as the Vista Data Flow System, will allow scientists to carry out research in future without needing to generate further data.

As well as being published online the image is being presented at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester today and shows the plane of the Milky Way galaxy from Earth's perspective.

It combines data from the UK Infrared Telescope in Hawaii and the Vista telescope in Chile.

Astronomers used infra-red radiation instead of visible light to enable them to see through much of the dust in the Milky Way and record details of the centre of the galaxy.

The work was supported by government body the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Click "full screen" on the image below to see the whole shot.

One billion stars in the Milky Way
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Around one billion stars in the Milky Way can be seen together for the first time in an image captured over a decade by astronomers. Scientists produced the picture by combining infra-red light ima...
Around one billion stars in the Milky Way can be seen together for the first time in an image captured over a decade by astronomers. Scientists produced the picture by combining infra-red light ima...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jfoste3
48 Fans
06:33 PM on 05/03/2012
Based on man’s knowledge of the universe thus far and the billion stars we are not alone. I am convinced there are perhaps thousands and thousands of planets that support life and is inhabited by humans of the likes of us. Reason we have not been able by clear evidence to verify this fact is distance of these planets that may require this planet humans to travel at the speed of light. It is my contention unless we destroy human life on this planet by some WMD far powerful than the Hydrogen bomb, that perhaps in 100 years a break thru may be developed perhaps by instruments where we could see some of these planets and their inhabitants. Could some one knowledgeable on this subject elaborate on the subject matter.
Author, Joseph Foster, ‘Seeing Red’ How America is losing the future. Tate publishing.
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ShaneAtkinsBiz
147 Fans
 
10:31 PM on 04/02/2012
Some many stars, I wonder if man will ever name all of them.
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tommy2bago
0 Fans
02:12 AM on 03/30/2012
A link to a high res copy would be nice...
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DrJon
Deprofessionalized professional
267 Fans
03:08 PM on 03/29/2012
I see Jesus' face!
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MichaelMuesli
12 Fans
11:25 AM on 03/29/2012
"Click "full screen" on the image below to see the whole shot."

It would be better if it actually went full screen without an advertisement in the corner
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scouse55
129 Fans
09:59 AM on 03/29/2012
Very pretty. However considering the vast distances involved, that is all this will remain, despite discovering some aspects of the structure, maybe even formation of the universe, at the end of the day, the value added to our abilities in ever reaching any one of these stellar regions is even more remote than the stars themselves..

The nearest neighbouring star is around four light years distant, which does not seem far , but unless and until we can engineer equipment that can transport even a simple probe to travel at the speed of light, which at present with all known potentials in scientific achievement stands as an impossible task, we must look at a normal life time in travel time to even get to Polaris. Never mind returning, Even at light speed, a there and back trip would eat up 8 years of a life.

Travelling or transporting yet further would therefore be not even a prospect for consideration. Cost alone of such ventures would be so great the whole of human wealth would not be enough to fund even a most basic venture.
Under present technology, and taking into consideration medical and physiological strictures on the human frame, again that would appear to be a non starter.

I am a very great advocate of scientific progression, but there comes a point when rationality must put aside the Star Wars aspect, in favour of realism, reality and practicality.
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My2pworth
78 Fans
03:41 PM on 03/29/2012
Such a negative outlook. It's only been 110 years since the wright brothers flew their plane. The past 40 years has seen the more advancements in science than the previous 150 combined. How on earth do you know with such certainty what the next 40 years will bring.
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scouse55
129 Fans
04:24 PM on 03/29/2012
Not at all.

Try telling me it's a neg att when one of yours, maybe even yourself has galloping cancer or early onset Alzheimers and when you ask about a cure, the response you get is, there is insufficient funds to do the necessary research to find that elusive cure,

But not to worry, here's a pretty star picture to look at while you await your turn in the crematorium.

Personally as I am bald, I would prefer whatever money is available be used to cure my lack of hair, as well as seek a cure for those other two conditions I mentioned.
Finally there is a vast difference between the gradually improved scientific fund of knowledge already gained, and the virtually impossible reaching the stars, which most sci fi is all about, and which the not too knowledgeable seem to think will be the next big step in space research.

It takes a few hours to traverse the surface of this planet, thanks to science and engineering, It has taken a couple of generations for our longest lived space probes to reach just slightly beyond the periphery of our immediate planetary system. Work out how long it will take to reach Polaris.
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erhuh
657 Fans
08:07 PM on 04/04/2012
Exactly. In the 1920s newspapers made fun of Robert Goddard for suggesting that rockets could travel in space. In 1969 the NYT apologized for the error.

People love teling the future what they can or can't do.
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erhuh
657 Fans
06:52 PM on 04/04/2012
A voyager style probe launched in 1977 and travelling at just 50% of light speed would have arrived long ago and we'd already have the data. Those types of speeds require a fusion power source. Fusion is actively researched today so it doesnt sound impossible, just not something that's going to happen soon.
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scouse55
129 Fans
07:23 PM on 04/04/2012
Travelling at 150,000 Km per SECOND is, to all intents and purposes, almost impossible to measure in terms of how far one would travel in single metres.

The speed of light halved ,or 50% thereof ,has no means available, even under the most rigidly researched studies, to be achieved.
The power to thrust any sort of vehicle forwards in space, even though the forwards resistance is pretty well zero,would be so immense, that nothing has been visualised to suggest it is possible. The only sort so far imagined is pulsed power or continuous explosions, similar to the ICE in a car.

But the power pack for that is truly beyond engineering capability.

Gravity capture is reliant on celestial bodies being in the vicinity , and once beyond the solar system there are no such bodies.
The physiology of the human frame is another limiting factor, it is far too fragile to cope with ultra long term space travel, although various methods of performance enhancement could be designed to keep a body relatively fit I am sure.

But could the mind cope with journeys under such pressures extending to something like 16 yrs round trip to the nearest star.

Then again the acceleration and deceleration periods involved could add well over a year to that return journey if indeed not more, so as a guess I could estimate such a round trip taking as long as 20 years.
Would any sane human being want to spend 20 years enclosed in a
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a n k u r
0 Fans
09:27 AM on 03/29/2012
This "one photo" must be one hell of a photo. Most digital photos around are of the order of a few mega pixels (millions of pixels). A photo with a billion stars must be of several billion pixels (giga pixels)!!

Compare these numbers with the display capabilities of a typical computer -- just about 1 or 2 mega pixels. Assuming that the original photo is of 10 giga pixels, the image shown on this page must about 10,000 times smaller than the original!
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