Two telescopes were used for the project: one at Mount Hopkins in Arizona for the Northern Hemisphere, and another near Cerro Tololo, Chile, to cover the southern half of the sky. Improvement over previous surveys: 80,000 times more detail Stars with locations precisely mapped: Approx. They may not be visible, but they still radiate a small amount of heat so they can be seen in the infrared. The same is true for very cold objects in space. Looking at celestial objects in the infrared allows astronomers to see past the interstellar dust which sometimes obscures them in regular observations. In fact, infrared sensors used in this survey are 100 million times more sensitive than those used the last time the infrared sky was mapped in 1969.ĢMASS stands for 2-Micron All Sky Survey, a reference to the 1.25-, 1.65- and 2.17-micron wavelengths which were imaged during the project. Credit: IPAC, Caltech and the University of Massachussets. The half a billion stars shown represent one galaxy among the billions of galaxies in the universe. Image to right: Our home - A map of the Milky Way in the infrared, courtesy of the 2MASS project. "For scientists, this computerized data represents a quantum leap from earlier infrared surveys," said Roc Cutri, project scientist on the 2MASS endeavor. That's the idea behind 2MASS: astronomers mapped the night sky and looked for the hottest infrared spots to study. we know they're spectacular sites, but how did we find out about them?Įarly explorers took the time to map out the United States and as a result, you know where to go on vacation for the best natural wonders. Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful.
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