Astronomers created a detailed Milky Way galaxy map showing stars and dwarf galaxies in the sky.
For this study, the astronomers looked for hydrogen, which is the most abundant element that can be found in space. Stars and galaxies are mostly composed with hydrogen.
This project revealed details about the galaxy that we don't know before. They had a HI4PI, pronounced as hi four pie, to collect cloud data, Science Daily reported.
The researchers explained that this allowed them to explore the physics behind our galaxy. They also found the structural foundation of the galaxy.
Radio telescopes like Parkes Observatory and Effelsberg 100m Radio Telescope were used for in study. This are highly sensitive instruments that allowed the researchers to look at deep space.
CNN reported that the researchers were able to create whole-sky images. They also explained that this map has a coherent view of the sky.
Naomi Griffiths from Australian National University said that that their findings showed that structural detail of the stars in the Milky Way. She explained that miniscule gas clouds helped star formations in Milky Way over billions of years ago.
The map can answer lingering questions about our galaxy and neighboring galaxies. This will answer how Milky Way get the gas it requires to continue forming stars.
Through this map, the researchers hope to find the small dwarf galaxies that surround Milky Way. They explained that it took them thousands of hours looking at telescopes over a span of few years.
They also looked at ten billion individual points which is a great task. They even created their own software package to calibrate data and decrease spurious signal in the sky.
Their findings show that tiny clouds become visible and created star formation in Milky Way. These objects are too dim and small to be detected even in galaxies close to our galaxy.
