The map charts a broad expanse of the universe, from the Milky Way to ‘the edge of what can be seen.’
A new map of the universe displays the span of the entire known cosmos for the first time with pinpoint accuracy and sweeping beauty.
Compiled from data mined over two decades by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the map was created by astronomers from Johns Hopkins University. It allows the public to experience data previously only accessible to scientists.
The interactive map depicts the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. It is available online, where it can also be downloaded for free.
A new map of the universe displays for the first time the span of the entire known cosmos with pinpoint accuracy and sweeping beauty. Credit: Johns Hopkins University
“Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae, and galaxies, and now it’s our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people,” says map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. “Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like.”
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is a pioneering effort to capture the night sky through a telescope based in New Mexico. Night after night for years, the telescope aimed at slightly different locations to capture this unusually broad perspective.
The map visualizes a slice of the universe, or about 200,000 galaxies—each dot on the map is a galaxy and each galaxy contains billions of stars and planets. The Milky Way is simply one of these dots, the one at the very bottom of the map. Ménard assembled the map with the help of former Johns Hopkins computer science student Nikita Shtarkman.
The map is even more colorful due to the expansion of the universe. Because of this, the farther an object is, the redder it appears. The first flash of radiation emitted soon after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago is revealed at the top of the map.
“In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets,” Ménard says. “We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale.”
Ménard hopes people will experience both the map’s undeniable beauty and its awe-inspiring sweep of scale.
“From this speck at the bottom,” he says, “we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science.”
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34 Comments
New units for big and small just announced.
https://apnews.com/article/science-europe-paris-e0fa7e7e9004ee3b8ac6c2e532cef39f
Quoting from the news release:
There’s the gargantuan “ronna” (that’s 27 zeros after the one)
and its big brother the “quetta” – (that’s 30 zeros).
Their ant-sized counterparts are the “ronto” (27 zeros after the decimal point),
and the “quecto” (with 30 zeros after the decimal point) —
representing the smaller numbers needed for quantum science and particle physics.
Did you know that the mass of an electron is one rontogram?
And that a byte of data on a mobile increases the phone’s mass by one quectogram?
Incredibly, “the diameter of the entire observable universe is just one ronnameter,”
End quoting.
We are stuck in the middle, not too big, not too small, the sweet spot. 🙂
Honestly, what is this picture supposed to reflect? That our universe was still created from nothing? That our accelerating, expanding universe is shaped like a triangle?
When is the scientific community going to finally realize that all the problems it’s trying to understand and find solutions for are all caused by this Lambda-CDM model? This model has absolutely ruined everything but the scientific community doesn’t see it. Where did all that matter come from at the bottom? Why did it expand? Why was it hot? All those unanswered questions need answers and the fact that there are none is exactly why all the problems exist. I just can’t believe the smartest people in the world cannot recognize the destruction this theory has caused for decades.
No of course not. It’s just defining a single point in my eye and would infact spread around us or better than our planet our galaxy. Imagine the triangle holograms, it would be a cone. Imagine that holo spanned out from the cone in all directions filling in any void area and you have a map of the known universe. The triangle is a very strong shape but remember or go back and look closer this isn’t a triangle. Triangles are have three flat lines which make all lines signal an end. This design makes only the point seem like an end but because we know space is 3d in all directions around us we can safely assume we know a 2dpic shooting in one direction isn’t going to be it. We will never map just one direction. The article reads *(New Map of the Universe Displays Span of Entire Cosmos With Pinpoint Accuracy)
It is a map. We have data about the galaxies we can see from the surface of the Earth. How far, what position, what color does it appear to us (a number of factors contribute to that). That’s all just data. You plot the data out into a map or picture, that’s what this is. This has nothing to do with whatever theory you want to complain about. The bottom is us (as a galaxy.) It doesn’t try to answer where we came from or any other question, except where we see the other galaxies from our sky. It is just a picture of what we can see. I suppose you are injecting a religious argument in disguise, but the fact is it doesn’t matter if God made the universe or a big bang, this is what it looks like to us right now.
How absolutely absurd. Did you not read the article at all? I think it’s people like you that honestly destroy the world with your lack of willingness to participate in learning and growing as well as your short sighted attempt to degrade and insult the wonderful minds of scientists that are trying to help you see how beautiful and vast our universe is. Crawl back under the rock you came from and stop insulting the hard work this group did to organize this beautiful map for the whole word to see the beauty they could see.
I love the flat-earth, tin foil hat, vaccine and election-denier nut cases like Mike Pollock and The 10th Man that post comments on sites like this. What could they possibly be hoping to accomplish? Oh, maybe distracting us from meaningful conversation. Unfortunately, mission accomplished.
Another monumental waste of funds that could help Humanity. Name one life astronomy has improved or saved. Knowledge is okay for knowledge’s sake. But not a the expense of human lives. Stop this nonsense, put cosmologist and astronomers in the fields to pick lettuce. Making salads is better than nothing..or astronomy.
Microwaves to name one – got it Gump?
LOL! I think you clicked on this story instead of Fox news 😀
I was gonna say the very things he is looking at and typing on, but that might be a bit mind-bending.
It’s a simple if/then equation, if we don’t KNOW then we can’t DO. It’s possible that astronomers and cosmologists will one day save the entire planet by knowing about and diverting that big asteroid headed our way. That’s what cosmologists and astronomers will likely accomplish in our future.
You seem to think astronomy has not “improved or saved” anyone’s life. You are wrong. I speak for myself and it has certainly improved my life with the wonder and beauty of of the cosmos. So many aspects of space are a mystery, questions waiting to be solved.
Here ya go Cletus: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/08/space-race-inventions-we-use-every-day-were-created-for-space-exploration/39580591/
Not even a partial list of inventions that came about as a result of space exploration and astronomy.
@the 10th man (kid)
What have scientists created exploring space?
You need to stop using ALL of the following AND a lot more…. head back on over to Truth Social AND Infowars – neanderthal… Magbilly.
1. Artificial limbs
2. Scratch-resistant lenses
3. Insulin pump
4. Firefighting equipment
5. DustBusters
6. LASIK
7. Shock absorbers for buildings
8. Solar cells
9. Water filtration
10. Better tires
11. Wireless headsets
12. Adjustable smoke detector
13. Invisible braces
14. Freeze-dried foods
15. Camera phones
16. CAT scans
17. Baby formula
18. Lifeshears
19. Grooved pavement
20. Air purifier
21. Memory foam
22. Workout machines
23. Home insulation
24. Infrared ear thermometers
25. Ice-resistant airplanes
26. Portable computer
27. LEDs
28. 3D food printing
29. Computer mouse
30. Athletic shoes
Big bang is incorrect theory. The universe is infinite in size and age. The void far exceeds the matter and energy. No one wants to wrap their brain around such a concept, but it is the ONLY POSSIBLE CONCLUSION when you comprehend it.
“In the beginning there was a void.
Then, there was another void.
And slowly, we began to communicate…
void by void.”
Professor Irwin Corey
Why on the maps is it always in just one direction is there no star in the opposite direction.
Fred Hoyle, a brilliant and beloved astronomer, argued strongly for a universe without beginning and against the”big bang”, in fact he was the one who named it, silly name for a silly idea. But The contrary evidence mounted up and converged over the years. It changed his mind, because he cared about what is true, not what he happened to find appealing. That is how science works.
I am excited by this new map!
@Wut: Good partial list. Of course every measure of time we have is based on astronomical observations, so add clocks and calendars. Also we should include inventions based on discoveries, such as General Relativity, that required astronomical confirmation. Einstein had never heard of GPS or man-made satellites, yet GPS absolutely depends on his theory of GR, to even work! Just goes to show that demanding practical applications before we fund research is a fool’s argument.
Actually this is essential in effort to get off earth. A need that may become urgently necessary in about 25yrs with the population currently counting 8 billion which is accompanied by sustainablablity of earth being capped-off at 10 billion mark.
So how does this better anyone’s life?
1) less humans on earth means less strain on the natural resources the planet produces to sustain life. We better the living planet.
2) less human on earth means we can begin a repairative operation on the environment and ecosystem which will in turn provide more space for wild life also giving them a better life.
3) less humans on earth means less crowded human areas. Ever got angry walking down the side walk cause there was 60 people walking between both directions and crossing the street wouldn’t make a difference, same thing in traffic but it’s worse for reason I shouldn’t have to say. More human will value the earth more with more space instead of turning our planet into a space ship/floating rock of buildings.
4) why is a map important 🤔 lol. I’ll wait….🤭. Planning, know where you came from, know where your headìng, make adjustments along the way, and you’ll never get lost. Space doesn’t have Google maps yet🤣. Without knowledge half the human race would still be beating the other half in the head with sticks and stones. So never down play intellect because wether or not it’s us or the universe. This kind of intellect maybe the only thing standing between the death of the only known intelligent species in the universe capable of thinking on astronomical levels and saving billions of lives(men/women/children,husband’s, wives, moms, dads, aunts, uncle, the people you pass by and never say good morning too.
Things to keep in mind
1)we’re overdue an extinction level event on earth by more than thousands of millions òf years.
2)luck is a fools friend.
3)our sun has a due date
4)everything in the universe must come to an end and eventually cease to exist, except humanity.
The more we understand this marvelous creation the universe and continuous ventures into all sorts of immortality the more likely it is that we will survive all challenges present and moderately achieve some level of eternal life across the cosmos. When we have the laws of universal physics many more things will be possible. Navigation/maps/spreadvstimevsdistanceFROMaTObvsunknown is key to all these plausible variables taking place at a faster rate.
Just knowing more about what is out there improves my life…
John 1:3, Genesis 1:1, Romans 1:20
Science fiction can be fun.
Let these guy have their fantasy.
It looks to me like an 1/8 of a sphere. Wouldn’t a big bang go in every direction?
I like your question, I’m wondering the same thing. This map is created from a matter of perspective. And it may have the very real prospect of perspective reversal, I.e if the observations were taken from the further most point, as apposed to observing from earth. It is after all, the known universe baised on the eyes peering through a set of looking glasses, so many variables and limitations, that the actual picture maybe in conceivable with our current means. Yet we are progressing. Thought provoking, candid effinence of minate lumina
Looks incredible. Amazing to grasp that each tiny light is in itself an entire galaxy. But this leaves me with a question. Since each galaxy is almost always a part of a galactic cluster, which in turn is part of a supercluster, why can we not see these much larger shapes and their strung-together “woven” patterns?
You can, just visit the map itself. Remember that with very dense data, patterns will only be noticeable at certain scales. The woven pattern you are talking about is amazing to see and clearly visible, especially if you zoom into the closer period of time / distance.
Those big structures are present in the map, they’re just not especially visible in the low resolution pictures used in this article. If you visit the map website itself, there’s a feature that lets you scroll through the data. In it, you can see those cosmic-scale filaments and superclusters quite clearly. And you’re absolutely correct: it really is quite beautiful!
The universe is not and never has been expanding. Its imploding and will continue to implode. Our minds cannot comprehend this as we naturally vision time moving forward and space growing outwards. Large and small are the same in the scale of the universe. Until scientists reverse there thought process and mathematical frames to account for this we will forever be traversing down the rabbit hole.
So what’s new.?… Genesis…in the “image” of god all things where created and still are…what does it prove,?
There is are fundamental flaws with using redshift as a measure of distance and age as so beautifully pointed out by Halton Arp.
Let’s not even go down the ludicrous hypothesis of the singularity… everything came from nothing, and what is the Universe expanding into ..nothing..you can’t make this rubbish up….oh they have.
So many commenters did not read the article or understand what a map is, or that you can’t see it all at once!
But I could not see a link to how to access the map that is described as available to the public. What gives with that?
The big bang my view of it is the Creator that though about creating the life and his intelligence moved the elements he needed to make the life, he thought long time which made move stars in the space and when he decided that it was the great moment to do begin. His decision produced a fission in his intelligence, and the descision itself when he defnitively moved his mind to accomplish his creation produced the fission of the big bang when he decided to execute and complete his judement the activity in his brain produced a movement of particles that have created the big bang when he confirmed his descision in his intelligence. Like a judge that sanction someone when they decide the sanction and bang the Gavel it produce a fission in the energy of the corona of the Earth and inside the intelligence of himanity. All the decision of a judge create a fission inside the justice and its how the judge can control the evolution of their decision with God that control the energy of the fission that his the decision gave on a case the jydge been judging. When judge bang the gavel the justice his in knowledge of his decision by the fission his decision produced in the energy and from his mind
How did a map of the universe turn into an attack on Republicans. Stop the hate people. We’re still stuck on this planet together. Nice map btw.
Science fiction can be fun.