Astronomers have released a spectacular new image of the Milky Way, providing a glimpse of our galaxy in unprecedented detail.
The photograph, which took 18 months and over 40,000 hours to construct, is the largest low–frequency radio colour image of the Milky Way ever assembled.
It captures the Southern Hemisphere view, revealing it across a wide range of radio wavelengths – or ‘colours’ of radio light.
And it provides astronomers with new ways to explore the birth, evolution and death of stars in our galaxy.
The stunning picture was created by astronomers from the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).
‘This vibrant image delivers an unparalleled perspective of our galaxy at low radio frequencies,’ Silvia Mantovanini, a PhD student at the Curtin University of ICRAR said.
‘It provides valuable insights into the evolution of stars, including their formation in various regions of the galaxy, how they interact with other celestial objects, and ultimately their demise.’
Ms Mantovanini constructed the image with the help of supercomputers which processed and compiled data from two extensive surveys carried out by the Murchison Widefield Array telescope in Western Australia.
The new spectacular image of the Milky Way, providing a glimpse of our galaxy in unprecedented detail
The photograph, which took 18 months and over 40,000 hours to construct, is the largest low–frequency radio colour image of the Milky Way ever assembled
It provides astronomers with new ways to explore the birth, evolution and death of stars in our galaxy
The astronomers focused on radio waves because they reveal a different part of the universe that visible light cannot show – allowing them to see through gas and dust clouds to observe the birth of stars and the structures of galaxies.
When compared to images constructed from visible light, the radio frequency photograph reveals the galaxy in much clearer, more colourful detail.
The new image offers twice the resolution, 10 times the sensitivity and covers twice the area compared to a previous radio wavelength image released in 2019.
This significant improvement in resolution, sensitivity and sky coverage allows for a more detailed and comprehensive study of the Milky Way, the team said.
Ms Mantovanini’s research focuses on supernova remnants, the expanding clouds of gas and energy left behind when a star explodes at the end of its life.
Although hundreds of these remnants have been discovered so far, astronomers suspect that thousands more are waiting to be found.
The image allows them to distinguish between the gas surrounding new stars and that left behind by dead ones, revealing clearer patterns in the cosmic landscape.
‘You can clearly identify remnants of exploded stars, represented by large red circles,’ she said. ‘The smaller blue regions indicate stellar nurseries where new stars are actively forming.’
Left: The centre of our Milky Way in radio colour. Right: The same area of sky as seen in visible light
Antennas from the MWA telescope, on Wajarri Country in Western Australia, which carried out the two extensive surveys
The image may also help unravel the mysteries surrounding pulsars in our Galaxy.
By measuring the brightness of pulsars at different GLEAM–X frequencies, astronomers hope to gain a deeper understanding of how these enigmatic objects emit radio waves and where they exist within our galaxy.
Associate Professor Natasha Hurley–Walker from the same ICRAR team, who is the principal investigator of the GLEAM–X survey, emphasised how this is a big step forward in studying the Milky Way’s structure.
‘This low–frequency image allows us to unveil large astrophysical structures in our Galaxy that are difficult to image at higher frequencies,’ she said.
‘No low–frequency radio image of the entire Southern Galactic Plane has been published before, making this an exciting milestone in astronomy.’
The new image was published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
