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Any amateur astronomer will tell you that there is something special to sit outside With your telescope And taking the distant wonders of the night sky. But with a little help from professional scientists using advanced technology, it is possible to obtain an even better view of distant starry systems swirling with their own fascinating and colorful screens. And now, the researchers have announced the release of the Siena Galaxy Atlas, which allows you to see nearly 400,000 galaxies "surprisingly beautiful" in a few simple clicks. Read the rest to see how the offer has become and what it could mean for future cosmos studies.

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Amazing images of the universe can be particularly captivating with their bright and whirlwind colors that stir up our imagination and our curiosity. As a rule, these images find us when a new series has been published before finally becoming the backgrounds of our phone screens.

But now, scientists from the National Research Laboratory on Infrared Infrared Instronomy (Noirlab) have announced the release of Siena Galaxy Atlas (SGA), a collection of images of nearly 400,000 galaxies from through the universe It's free for the public to access, according to a press release.

The massive library is a Image compilation Caught by the statements inherited from the black energy spectroscopic instrument (DESI) between 2014 and 2017, which were used to identify possible galaxies as targets for future research for the project. Scientists have used cutting -edge telescopes from the Inter -American Observatory of Cerro Tololo (CTIO) of the National Observatory of Chile and Kitt Peak (KPNO) at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona to collect data , according to the press release.

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The publication of the data and images library marks significant progression in the study of the cosmos. Although scientists have long used research databases to help identify models and target potentially important fields of study, data sets were generally updated as new technology was available. But the version of the SGA marks the first time that a mother of such information was made available both using advanced instruments. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

The scope of the project is also monumental, digitizing a total area of 20,000 square degrees which covers half of the night sky, according to the press release from Noirab. It marks the first time that very precise information on the location, shape and size of so many galaxies have been made available.

"The large galaxies nearby are important because we can study them in more detail than all the other galaxies in the universe; these are our cosmic neighbors", " John Moustakas , PHD, SGA project manager and professor of physics at Siena College, said in the press release from Noirab. "Not only are they surprisingly beautiful, but they also have the key to understanding how galaxies are formed and evolving, including our own galaxy of the Milky Way."

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Even if the SGA represents the most up -to -date information, it is far from the first attempt to map the cosmos coherently. The research team quotes projects dating from centuries, including the catalog of nebules and stars clusters (catalog of nebulae and clusters of stars) published for the first time in 1774 by the astronomer Charles Messier , the new general catalog of nebulae and stars clusters (NGC) published in 1888 by John Louis Emil Dreyer , and the third reference catalog of brilliant galaxies in 1991. However, they also cite other recent atlas which lack a large number of galaxies and rely on obsolete measures.

"The compilations of previous galaxies were plagued by positions, sizes and incorrect forms of the galaxies, and also contained entries which were not galaxies but stars or artefacts", " Arjun Dey , PHD, project scientist and astronomer in Nocreab, said in the press release. "The SGA cleans all of this for a large part of the sky. It also provides the best brightness measurements for the galaxies, which we have not had reliably before for a sample of this size."

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Researchers are convinced that SGA will help promote new research on everything, from the reason why different galaxies appear as they do to the way less known things like dark matter are distributed in the universe, according to the press release Press of the Noirab. But they also quickly note that scientific citizens and amateur astronomers will also be able to use the information treasure to be used.

"The public release of these spectacular data contained in the Atlas will have a real impact not only on astronomical research, but also on the public's ability to visualize and identify relatively close galaxies", " Chris Davis , Said the director of the NSF program for Noillab, in the press release. "Dedicated amateur astronomers will particularly love this as an essential resource to find out more about some of the celestial targets they observe."

Others are suitable that the free resource could also be a rewarding way to explore the very office cosmos. "The SGA will be the pre -eminent digital galaxy atlas for large galaxies," Dey said in the press release. "In addition to his scientific utility, he has a lot of photos of beautiful galaxies!"

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