9-Billion-Pixel Photo of Milky Way’s Center Is Full of Stars
9-Billion-Pixel Photo of Milky Way’s Center Is Full of Stars
Containing more than 84 million stars, this nine-gigapixel shot of the Milky Way’s central bulge will help astronomers unravel the complex history of star formation in our home galaxy.The image was taken by the European Southern Observatory’s VISTA infrared survey telescope, and combined thousands of separate pictures to create this monumental work. The photo contains 10 times more stars than previous studies and will allow scientists to perform important statistical analyses of the color, temperature, mass, and ages of the different stars in the Milky Way.The image above is an insane 108,200 by 81,500 pixels. If printed at the standard photo resolution of a book, it would stretch 30 feet tall and 23 feet wide, easily able cover the side of a three-story building. You can download the entire 24.6 Gigabyte version, if you dare.