An essential contribution to the study of space is being delivered by John Hopkins University, which on Thursday unveiled a one-of-a-kind map that allows users to scroll through 200,000 galaxies, "the span of the entire known cosmos."
The map is a "slice of the universe" that combines more than 20 years of data to display information previously seen only by scientists with "millimeter precision and stunning beauty," Johns Hopkins said.
On the map, people can see a colorful spectrum of rainbow dots that represent the actual positions and colors of 200,000 galaxies, each filled with its own billions of stars and planets.
The spectrum is so vast that it stretches back 13.7 billion years to a bright tie-dyed line that shows a true picture of the edge of the observable universe. Called the "Cosmic Microwave Background," the image is the first flash of light emitted after the Big Bang.
Johns Hopkins professor and map maker Brice Ménard said he was inspired by astronomy images growing up, and "now it's our time to create a new type of image to inspire people."
"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," he said.
"Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."
