Watch: Giant new Milky Way map changes view of galaxy ‘forever’

Astronomers have published a gigantic infrared map of the Milky Way, containing more than 1.5 billion objects, including newborn stars.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (Vista) telescope, the scientists monitored the central regions of the Milky Way for more than 13 years.

Dante Minniti, an astrophysicist at Universidad Andres Bello in Chile who led the overall project, said: “We made so many discoveries, we have changed the view of our galaxy forever.”

The data covers an area of ​​the sky equivalent to 8,600 full moons, and contains about 10 times more objects than a previous map released by the same team back in 2012.