The image, made by astronomers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany, was compiled from five years worth of astronomical observations.
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The new photo is the byproduct of a multiyear hunt for variable brightness objects – a project carried out by astronomers at Ruhr University Bochum. To this end, they use the telescopes at Bochum’s university observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
They then assembled the 268 images into one comprehensive image. Part of this endeavor is the nightly capturing of southern sky images by a group from the Chair of Astrophysics. A few of the areas (such as the one above) were observed as many as 272 times, because astronomers were surveying the skies for stars or other objects whose brightness varied over time. More than 50,000 new variable objects, which had hitherto not been recorded in databanks, have been discovered by the researchers so far. They captured a photo of each region in intervals for a couple of days.
Through the use of the online tool that the researchers created, people can view the complete Milky Way image at a glance, or they can zoom in to examine various areas, according to the researchers. Users can search for specific celestial objects, see the entire Milky Way or adjust a number of brightness and gamma settings. An input window, which provides the position of the displayed image section, can be used to search for specific objects.
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The endeavor of locating and collating data about the 50,000 new objects was described in a scientific journal called Astronomical Notes, first published online on October 4, 2012.
