NASA published an interactive mosaic of infrared images of the Milky Way. This is the most clear and bright view, had ever managed to get. H5>
Scalable image consists of more than 2 million photos taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope for the last ten years. NASA images Specialist Robert Hurt says, "If we wanted to print this panorama, we would need a billboard sized stadium for 100,000 seats." And even with such a panorama is still only 3% of our night sky. But given that the Milky Way has a disk shape, in the 3% we see most of the stars of the galaxy.
Project Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire, briefly GLIMPSE360, allowing viewers to see the stars, hidden behind cosmic dust. Our galaxy is a flat spiral disk; Our solar system is located in the outer third of the Milky Way, in one of the spiral arms. As we look toward the center of our galaxy, we see the crowded, dusty region jam-packed with stars. In connection with copious amounts of cosmic dust ordinary telescopes can not see that there is, therefore, for this study was used Spitzer with his infrared camera, the light which passes through the interference.
One of the project managers GLIMPSE360 Ed Cherchvell добавил: «Spitzer helps us determine where the end of the galaxy. We display on a map the location of the spiral arms of the galaxy and track forms. " The project has enabled researchers to collect the most accurate map of the center of our galaxy.
As reported in the пресс-релизе, posted on the website of the Space Telescope Spitzer, researchers have discovered that the Milky Way is bigger than we thought. Galaxy "riddled with bubbles" - cavities emit radiation and wind. These allow scientists to build a more global model of stars and the formation of stars in the galaxy, which is called the "momentum" of the Milky Way.
Additional useful materials:
1. About technologies Spitzer'a .
2. The Milky Way Project - helping scientists to detailed consideration of tens of thousands of infrared images Spitzer.
3. Zooniverse - is a group of online projects of civil science (this includes The Milky Way Project), where volunteers help to process huge amounts of data, faced by scientists.
4. DIY: instruction in English to create a paper model of the telescope Spitzer.
5. DIY: instruction in English to create a paper model of the carrier rocket Delta II, with that executed Spitzer.
6. Computer 3D model Spitzer'a.
7. Blog Spitzer'a team.
