Scientists from Johns Hopkins University have created a new interactive map that lets you see part of the universe. This is reported on the official website of the development.
The authors used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope over the past two decades. The main idea of the project is to provide the opportunity for the non-astronomical public to get acquainted for free with a part of the studied universe that was previously available only to specialists.
The map contains the true location and true color rendering of 200,000 galaxies, each containing billions of stars and planets.
At the bottom you can find the Milky Way with the Solar System and the top of the map shows the observable edge of the universe. Closest to the Milky Way are the thousands of spiral galaxies represented by blue dots.
Formed 1.6 billion years ago, elliptical galaxies can be seen later, they are yellow and much brighter than spiral galaxies. Even higher, about 4.5 billion years ago, you can see red-screened elliptical galaxies that appear red because photons stretch as the universe expands.
Gradually, the array of red dots on the map is replaced by a cluster of blue dots, which are quasars, massive black holes at the center of certain galaxies.
At the ten-billion-year boundary, blue quasars decline and are replaced by redshifted quasars. And then there’s a layer of gaseous hydrogen that blocks the emission of visible light.
Source: Port Altele
