UK scientists create infrared map of heavens
Friday, 21 Jul 2006 12:42
Pleiades star cluster captured by UKIDSS
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Scientists using the most powerful infrared imager in the world have created the largest and most sensitive survey of the heavens in infrared light.
The results are part of the attempt by the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) to study objects that are too faint to see at visible wavelengths, such as very distant or very cool objects, and are being made available to scientists across Europe.
Once completed, the UKIDSS will make an atlas of the sky in infrared that includes objects at the very edge of the known universe.
"Astronomers across Europe will jump on these exciting new data," said Andy Lawrence from the University of Edinburgh, UKIDSS principal investigator.
"We are moving into new territory - our survey is both wide and deep, so we are mapping huge volumes of space. That's how we will locate rare objects - the very nearest and smallest stars, and young galaxies at the edge of the universe."
Omar Almaini, who is leading a University of Nottingham study into star and galaxy formation, said that details released from UKIDSS so far had been crucial in revealing the universe's secrets.
"We're surveying an enormous volume of the distant universe, which allows us to discover rare massive galaxies that were previously almost impossible to find," he said.
"Understanding how these galaxies form is one of the holy grails of modern astronomy, and now we can trace them back to the edge of the known universe."
So far several hundred thousand galaxies have been detected, including several which challenge thinking on how galaxies form.