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Largest Ever Digital Survey of the Milky Way Released

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the playing-nice-gets-you-places dept.

Several readers have written to tell us that an international team of over fifty astronomers from around the globe have created the largest ever digital survey of the Milky Way. IPHAS (INT/WFC Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane) is an image survey designed to show large-scale structure within our galaxy. IPHAS data is being released by utilizing technology from the UK government funded open source project Astrogrid. Some of the images are quite spectacular.

8 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Survey results by Kohath · · Score: 4, Funny

    52% of stars surveyed said they were in favor of equality for dark matter
    41% were opposed
    7% had no opinion

    Margin of error 2.7%

  2. This should be the most accurate galactic census by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This is the first time they've sent people door-to-door in the case of unanswered questionnaires.

  3. Re:Wow.... by Liquidrage · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can you post a link to your desktop so we can all see the image.

    I really hate when /. thinks it's OK to link to some large image file on some little server somewhere.

  4. $10 says there is life out there by Fieldgeek · · Score: 2, Funny

    I also have it set on my screen at work as my background. It creates such a nice glow.

  5. Re:Why do some so love staring into space? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    > I suddenly saw gravity as a sort of surface tension,
    > trying to bring everything back together into a nice,
    > neutral sphere. I also suddenly saw the dark energy
    > as the momentum of the thrower and the dark energy
    > as the buffeted air through which the splash disperses.

    Were you both completely stoned at the time?

  6. Re:Why do some so love staring into space? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 2, Funny

    How is it that some of us wonder and wander and some of us do not? The average IQ in the United States is only in the high 90s? (Note: I am an American, so, no I'm not eurotrolling)

    --
    My blog
  7. The headline made me think of livejournal... by Glowing+Fish · · Score: 2, Funny

    And the "surveys" that some livejournal users clutter up their pages with.

    If the Milky Way had a livejournal, would it fill it up with digital surveys of such questions as

    "What shape are you? Spiral, elliptical, or irregular?"

    and

    "What is your spectrum?"

    --
    Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
  8. Re:Lovely by davester666 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Good thing it's just a digital survey. I don't think there's a glove big enough for a digital probe.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!