VISTA Telescope in Chile Reveals 84 Million Stars in 9 Billion Pixels

By David Tobia
November 2, 2012

The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in northern Chile has compiled the most comprehensive, detailed catalog of stars to-date by creating a nine billion pixel image of 84 million stars.
If the image were printed on paper, it would be something like 30 feet wide and 23 feet tall, reports The Atlantic. For this reason, most researchers will need to use computers to access all 108,500 by 81,500 pixels.
“The image contains both visible and infrared light, which allows astronomers to document stars normally obstructed by gas clouds,” notes the article.
The data is offered to the public domain via the observatory’s archive, “so that in the months ahead astronomers can pore over them, searching for clues as the formation, evolution, and structure of our galaxy, and looking for stars that might be good candidates for more exoplanet discoveries,” writes The Atlantic.
The post includes a short video that illustrates the gigapixel view of the Milky Way.

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