German Astronomers Create Largest Astronomical Image Ever Seen

Astronomers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany have created the largest astronomical image known to man. 

Over the course of five years, researchers compiled pictures taken from their university observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile — the driest place on earth. 

The Atacama Desert's dry air and high altitude provided ideal conditions for space observation. 

Dryness minimizes the amount of moisture in the air that can interfere with light, which therefore provides clearer skies.

The Alma Observatory in the Atacama Desert

The photos — which are of our galaxy, the Milky Way — were originally divided into 278 sections and then combined to form the single image made up of 47 billion pixels.

The image also uncovered 50,000 new variable objects. Variable objects are described as objects that differ when the light we receive from them has been interfered with by anything from another planet to another star. These variable objects were identified by astronomers, who took snapshots of the same location over several days before comparing them.

The full image can be seen here.




Main image via Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Advertisement