“This vibrant image delivers an unparalleled perspective of our galaxy<\/a> at low radio frequencies,” Silvia Mantovanini, a PhD student from ICRAR\u2019s Curtin University team and lead author of the study, said in the statement. “It provides valuable insights into the evolution of stars<\/a>, including their formation in various regions of the galaxy, how they interact with other celestial objects and ultimately their demise.”<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \n Part of the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia. (Image credit: ICRAR\/UWA)<\/p>\n Over 18 months, the team used about one million computing hours at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in Australia to process and merge data from the two surveys into the final image, cataloging nearly 100,000 radio sources.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The map \u2014 a full, zoomable version of which you can find here<\/a> \u2014 captures a wide range of radio wavelengths, or “colors” of radio light across the Southern Galactic Plane, offering an unprecedented look at the Milky Way<\/a>‘s hidden structure. By observing the galaxy in low-frequency radio light, astronomers can peer through the dense clouds of dust and gas that block visible wavelengths, exposing supernova<\/a> remnants \u2014 the immense, expanding shells of gas and radiation that mark the explosive death of a star \u2014 and regions of ionized gas where new ones are being born.<\/p>\n “You can clearly identify remnants of exploded stars, represented by large red circles,” Mantovanini said in the statement. “The smaller blue regions indicate stellar nurseries where new stars are actively forming.”<\/p>\n This expansive view of the Milky Way<\/a> may also shed new light on pulsars \u2014 rapidly spinning neutron stars<\/a> whose powerful radio pulses and unpredictable behavior remain a mystery, the researchers said.<\/p>\n The newly released image is fully interactive. Viewers can pan across the bright horizontal band charting the star-packed Southern Galactic Plane and zoom in on the Milky Way\u2019s turbulent stellar activity, glowing nebulae, compact pulsars<\/a> and even distant background galaxies beyond our own.<\/p>\n “This low-frequency image allows us to unveil large astrophysical structures in our galaxy that are difficult to image at higher frequencies,” Natasha Hurley-Walker, associate professor at Curtin University and co-author of the study, said in the statement. “No low-frequency radio image of the entire Southern Galactic Plane has been published before, making this an exciting milestone in astronomy.”<\/p>\n This map sets the stage for the Square Kilometre Array Observatory\u2019s SKA\u2011Low telescope<\/a> \u2014 the world\u2019s largest low-frequency radio array \u2014 which, after it’s completed within the next decade, will probe the Milky Way and beyond with unprecedented sensitivity and detail.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/RzwAbhaknRYbtkTWD6LcST.jpg\")
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