See Astronomers' Hydrogen Map of Milky Way Galaxy with Unprecedented Detail

The universe never ceases to amaze and as more advanced technologies never stop getting better, the world is also treated to more detailed representation and mapping of the vastness of space beyond the comforts of the Earth. Astronomers recently released an unprecedented detailed map of Milky Way presenting the galaxy in a strangely fascinating way.

The HI4PI sky survey presented 'fine-grained' detailed neutral atomic hydrogen map of the Milky Way galaxy. To achieve this, 10 billion data points gathered by radio telescopes were used. These data was treated with a noise-filtering process to produce highly detailed output. The result, a map that is twice more sensitive than the last best-recognized version and four times above the last when it comes to angular definition.

The view is considered unprecedented where clouds structures and even finer details between stars in the Milky Way galaxy can be seen in detailed for the first time. The spaces between stars were captured in blurred before, according to a report.

The new map will be beneficial to scientists in understanding how the galaxy formed and it will give them new data about the universe in general. Seeing clearer and better means more information will be available.

The neutral hydrogen atomic map will also help scientists correct and confirm previous conclusions and it will nullify false claims as well. Dr. Benjamin Winkel even likened the new detailed map to cleaning a window, enabling the looker to see well.

By using telescopes from Germany and Australia, a team of astronomers made the new detailed map possible. Experts say that there are several of these maps done before but the new one presented more details than the rest. 

"What it gives us is a map of the sky in hydrogen that normal telescopes, normal optical telescopes, can't see," Professor Lister Staveley-Smith from the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) said in an interview with ABC. "We're seeing gas, we're seeing the interstellar medium, we're seeing the stuff which stars will later form from," Staveley-Smith added.

This new map presented the importance of gas in understanding the galaxy and the universe.