Space fans no longer have to rely on science fiction or wait for images sent back from the James Webb Space Telescope to explore the deepest reaches of the universe.
Astronomers from Johns Hopkins University have created a new interactive map that lets you scroll through the universe.
Using data mined over two decades by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the map allows the public to experience parts of the universe previously only accessible to scientists.
The map, which can be viewed and downloaded for free, shows the actual position and true colors of 200,000 galaxies, each containing billions of stars and planets.
Astronomers from Johns Hopkins University have created a new interactive map that lets you scroll through the universe
The map, which can be viewed and downloaded for free, shows the actual position and true colors of 200,000 galaxies, each containing billions of stars and planets
Map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins said: “Growing up, I was very inspired by astronomy images, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it’s our time to create a new kind of images to inspire people.
“Astrophysicists around the world have analyzed this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries.
“But no one took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everyone what the universe really looks like.’
For this impressive project, the researchers collected data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a pioneering effort to capture the night sky through a telescope based in New Mexico.
Since the launch in 2000, scientists have gradually captured such a wide perspective of the universe by pointing the telescope at slightly different locations each night.
With the help of former Johns Hopkins computer science student Nikita Shtarkman, Dr. Ménard was able to visualize a “piece” of the universe.
This “disc” holds 200,000 galaxies, with each dot representing a galaxy, and each galaxy contained billions of stars and planets.
Our very own Milky Way is just a tiny dot on the big map and is located at the bottom.
Meanwhile, the top of the map shows the edge of the observable universe.
The colors of the map change as you gradually roll up from the Milky Way.
The first part of the universe, expanding outward from the Milky Way, shows thousands of spiral galaxies, represented as blue dots.
Further up the map we can see elliptical galaxies from 1.6 billion years ago, which are yellowish and much brighter than the spiral galaxies.
Moving higher back to 4.5 billion years ago, we can see “redshifted elliptical galaxies,” which appear redder as photons are stretched as the universe expands.
An illustration of the Milky Way, which is at the bottom of the map and has an estimated 100 thousand million stars
The team explained: “This is the case for the elliptical galaxies. At these distances, they look red to us. Since we no longer detect the fainter spiral galaxies, the filamentary structure is less visible.’
At about 6.2 billion years, the galaxies become harder to see. But we can still detect quasars, which are much brighter and bluer.
On the map, the vast array of red dots is gradually replaced by a sea of blue dots representing quasars, which are massive black holes located at the center of some galaxies.
The team added: “As they collect surrounding gas and stars, they become extremely bright and can be seen across the universe. Their light is bluish.
At ten billion years, the blue quasars become more sparsely populated on the map, as “redshifted quasars” now appear.
“At these distances, the expansion of the universe is so great that the blue photons from quasars are stretched out and appear redder,” the researchers explained.
“A little further on, we encounter an epoch during which the universe is filled with hydrogen gas that prevents the propagation of visible light that we could observe today. This epoch is called the ‘Dark Ages.’
This is an actual photograph of the first flash of light emitted shortly after the big bang, 13.7 billion years ago, captured by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This mysterious period of the universe is measured from about 400,000 years after the Big Bang, and lasts for hundreds of millions of years.
Beyond this vast void we see a bright blue, yellow edge, representing the edge of the observable universe.
The team said: “This is a real photograph of the first flash of light emitted shortly after the big bang, 13.7 billion years ago.
“This light has been stretched by the expansion of the universe and comes to us as radio waves. This is the edge of the observable universe.’
Dr. Ménard continued: “On this map, we are just a speck at the bottom, just a pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way, which has billions of stars and planets.
“We’re used to seeing astronomical images that show a galaxy here, a galaxy there or maybe a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale.
He hopes people will experience both the map’s undeniable beauty and its impressive scale.
He concluded: “From this spot at the bottom we can map galaxies across the universe, and that that says something about the power of science.”
#BROWSE #UNIVERSE #Incredible #interactive #map #lets #explore #galaxies