This is the largest map of the Milky Way ever made by humans

Years ago, astronomers from the European Southern Observatoryan intergovernmental research organization based in Chile, began work on a comprehensive map of the Milky Way. The goal was simple: to create the most detailed and accurate map of the Milky Way ever created. After 13 years of taking photos of the night sky, the team published the map, and it is absolutely gigantic.

The team started creating the map in 2010 and completed taking the images in 2023. During those thirteen years, astronomers took more than 200,000 images in 420 nights to map as much of the Milky Way as possible . Once stitched together, the map is 500 TB in size and hosts 1.5 billion objects, from dense clusters of old stars to relatively newborn stars, which are generally harder to see because they are often surrounded by dust and other space debris.

‘We have made so many discoveries that we have changed the view of our Milky Way forever’ said Dante Minnitian astrophysicist at Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile who led the project.

To achieve this level of clarity and detail, astronomers used ESO’s VISTA telescope, located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The group specifically used VISTA’s VIRCAM, a high-resolution infrared camera that can see stars and other celestial bodies despite the veil of dust and gases that make observing such things difficult. VIRCAM can also observe very cold objects, such as free-floating planets that do not orbit a star, or brown dwarfs, which are stars that have failed to achieve sustainable nuclear fusion.

The ESO posted a video on YouTube This shows eight years ago how much more clarity and detail the VIRCAM can achieve compared to an image in visible light and how many more stars and objects can be seen this way.

How much of the Milky Way can be seen on the map?

The map is too large and too detailed to post. But that’s possible view the map in its entirety on the ESO website. Zoom in on virtually any segment of the map to see dozens or even hundreds of stars in different clusters and formations. However, despite the enormous amount of data, the map does not cover the entire Milky Way galaxy.

It is estimated that the Milky Way contains between 100 and 400 billion stars and probably as many planets. With 1.5 billion objects, the map represents only a small part of the Milky Way. Its claim to fame is that it is the largest map ever made and is also the most detailed. Other studies exist that have cataloged billions of objects, so overall, humans have still only mapped a small portion of the night sky.