Combining scientific precision and artistic beauty across fields for the first time, the known universe is drawn into a new map of the universe, The Map of the Universe. This new map was made by Johns Hopkins University astronomers using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), which accumulated more than 20 years of observation data, and compared the actual positions and real positions of 200,000 galaxies and quasars. The color is built into an interactive map, which is available for online download, allowing the public to experience information that only scientists could use before.
Map author Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said: “Astronomical pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies inspired me a lot when I was growing up, and now we create new pictures to inspire everyone.”
Professor Ménard also said: “Astrophysicists all over the world have analyzed these observation data for many years and published thousands of scientific papers. But no one has invested in drawing a map that is both aesthetic, scientific and open to the public. Our goal is to present the real universe. present to the public.”
The 2.5-meter telescope of the SDSS Sky Survey Observatory has been expanding its observation range over the years since it was opened at the Apache Point Observatory (APO) in New Mexico in 1998, trying to see a wider universe.
Professor Ménard and Nikita Shtarkman, a student who is good at data science, collaborated to draw a map, such as the universe of a sliced cake, about 200,000 galaxies and quasars, each point is a galaxy, and each galaxy contains one billion stars and planets. The Milky Way is just one of these points, at the bottom of the map. The expansion of the universe makes this map colorful, redder as you go. At the top of the map is the first light after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.
From the small dot of the Milky Way at the bottom of the map, looking at distant galaxies, more galaxy clusters, and the beginning of the universe, you can also see cosmic shocks. Professor Ménard hopes that while the public experiences the map, in addition to feeling the beauty, there will also be a new vision of the universe-level structure brought about by science.
(This article is reproduced with the authorization of Taipei Planetarium; source of the first picture: webpage screenshot)
