A new map of the universe shows for the first time the extent of the entire known cosmos in extreme precision and sweeping beauty.
Created by Johns Hopkins University astronomers using data mined over two decades by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the map allows the public to experience data previously only accessible to scientists.
The interactive map, which depicts the true position and true colors of 200,000 galaxies, is also available as a free download.
“Growing up I was very inspired by images of astronomy, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it’s time to create a new kind of image to inspire people,” says map creator Brice Ménard, professor at Johns Hopkins. “Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of papers and scientific discoveries. But no one took the time to create a beautiful map that is scientifically accurate and accessible to non-scientists . Our goal here is to show everyone what the universe really looks like.”
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is a pioneering effort to capture the night sky using a telescope based in New Mexico. Night after night for years, the telescope aimed at slightly different locations to capture this unusually wide perspective.
The map, which Ménard put together with the help of former Johns Hopkins computer science student Nikita Shtarkman, visualizes a portion of the universe, or about 200,000 galaxies: each dot on the map is a galaxy, and each galaxy contains thousands of millions of stars and planets. The Milky Way is simply one such point, the one at the bottom of the map.
The expansion of the Universe helps to make this map even more colorful. The further away an object is, the redder it appears. The top of the map reveals the first flash of radiation emitted shortly after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago.
“On this map, we are just a blob 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,” says Ménard. “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.”
Ménard hopes that people will experience both the undeniable beauty of the map and its impressive scale.
“From this point at the bottom,” he says, “we are able to trace galaxies across the universe and that says something about the power of science.”
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