Recent research has shown that the universe contains more than 3 billion stars. According to the report, the Dark Energy Camera(DECam), an instrument on the Victor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/CTIO has taken the new galaxy panorama view. It is an NSF-sponsored NOIRLab initiative. The new galactic pano view of our universe shows 3 billion-plus stars scattered among the dusty bands in the Milky Way. This image was made using data from DECaPS2, the Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey. Andrew Saydjari, a lead author and researcher at Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics and Smithsonian has claimed that DECaPS2 is now a success because it has identified a region of extremely dense stars. Experts are careful to avoid finding sources that are almost indistinguishable. Saydjari also said that by doing this, the team has created the largest catalog ever from one single camera in terms count of objects analyzed. DECaPS data was first published in 2017. The second release of DECaPS data includes 6.5% of the night sky and covers a staggering 130 degrees.
Edward Schlafly, co-author, and researcher at the AURA-managed Space Telescope Science Institute has stated that DECaPS2 completed a 360-degree panoramic image of the Milky Way’s disc and reached much dimmer stars when combined with images from Pan-STARRS 1 According to Schlafly, the new survey will allow experts to measure the three-dimensional formations of stars and dust in the Milky Way in unprecedented detail. The DECaPS2 survey was able to find nearly 3.32 Billion objects out of more than 21400 different exposures, generating over ten terabytes. Astronomers have been able to better understand the Milky Way’s galactic plane thanks to this. Near-infrared wavelength observations were used by the team of astronomers to see beyond light-gripping dust and get a better view of all celestial objects. A new data-processing technique has also been used that allowed them to better predict the background of every star. This has resulted in a more accurate final catalog.
The co-author of the paper and a professor at the Center for Astrophysics, who is also the chief investigator behind the project, Douglas Finkbeiner has said that he has been looking for a specific method to do better calculations on top of complex background since his work on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that was published around 20 years ago. The division chief of Astronomical Sciences at NSF, Debra Fischer has claimed that it is a technical triumph. She has said that it is like taking a group picture of more than three billion people and every single person is identifiable. Debra Fischer has stated that many astronomers will be using this detailed sketch of more than three billion stars present in the Milky Way for their research for years to come. She has applauded the work saying it is an eccentric case of what associations across federal bodies can accomplish. The findings of the new survey have been released in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement.
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