The folks at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile recently released a composite shot of the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, containing more than 84 million stars there within, reaffirming the notion of how small we are in relation to all that encompasses our celestial system.
Taken by the Observatory’s VISTA survey telescope using three different infrared filters, the 9-gigapixel photo was created through the stitching of over a thousand of separate images, collectively creating an end result so large that if it were to be printed, would measure roughly 30 x 22′ – amazing indeed.
The original browser-breaking composite can be viewed in all its 108,500 x 81,500 pixel glory HERE.
