The universe holds a lot of mysteries and unanswered questions for us. And therein lies the beauty of this huge black space; something which fascinates and awes us every time we look into its timeless abyss. Human being has been studying the universe for ages, trying to find the answers of its origin, and trying to explore it to the fullest. And, a new 3D map has taken these endeavors a bit further. The 3D map of the universe, released by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), is the largest map of the universe till now.
The images that SDSS used in creating this map have been taken from the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. This observatory has an extra-ordinary telescope with a 2.5-meter wide-angle and is capable of capturing images using a technique called ‘drift scanning’ or time-delay integration.
SDSS has been making use of images from this telescope as far back as 2000. It was using the telescope to survey the universe and was able to gather a data worth 7 billion years of cosmic movement. Now, SDSS has released the first batch of the data it has gathered from the observatory.
The official release is titled ‘Data release 9’ and comprises first two years of the survey’s data. The three-dimensional map, as viewed in the video below, is truly stunning. You will literally feel like flying right through galaxies, stars and black holes, as if you were right there in the space among all those objects.
Courtesy: The Atlantic
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