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Spitzer's 5-Gigapixel Milky Way

Posted by kdawson on from the zoom-zoom dept.

James Harold writes "Today NASA unveiled a new infrared mosaic of our galaxy. The result of over 800,000 individual images collected by the Spitzer Space Telescope, it is the largest, highest-resolution, and most sensitive infrared picture ever taken of the Milky Way (and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future). Because Spitzer sees in infrared, it penetrates much farther into the galaxy, revealing previously hidden star clusters, star-forming regions, shocked gases, glowing 'bubbles' and more. The complete mosaic is about 400,000 by 13,000 pixels, and a 180' printed version is being shown at the American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis. A zoomable, annotated version of two different variants on the image (as well as some additional information on the science) is available at Alien Earths, a NASA- and NSF-supported education site." The Spitzer survey is already causing a stir potentially bigger than that raised when Pluto was deemed not a planet: two minor spiral arms of the Milky Way may be demoted.

5 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Of Tags and Men by arnoldo.j.nunez · · Score: 4, Funny

    Okay, I realize the tag says !eliot, but when the summary says: Spitzer, penetrates, revealed, and shocked, it makes me think that Slashdot is trying to embed secret messages in TFS.

  2. deep penetration by liquidf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because Spitzer sees in infrared, it penetrates much farther into the galaxy... wow, never thought i would see "Spitzer" and "penetrate" in the same sentance together and *not* be talking about a certain governor
    --
    i've had just about enough of your vassar bashing.
  3. Re:really? by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Funny

    You were really planning to click on a link pointing to a 20 gigabyte image? Then what?
    • Start downloading
    • Go out for coffee
    • Start missing slashdot
    • Drink more coffee
    • Come home
    • Cancel download
    • Continue browsing/posting on slashdot.
    --
    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  4. Re:Compression at it's finest by dotancohen · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's what I was thinking. Where's the beef? Are you kidding? I was scared to click the link to TFA thinking it might try to download to whole thing.
    --
    It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  5. Re:really? by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    Next time maybe they'll take the picture during the day.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."