Space exploration
Known universe just got bigger by 300,000 more galaxies
Unprecedented collaboration brings together more than 200 astronomers from 18 countries
Paris — The known universe just got a lot bigger. A new map of the night sky published on Tuesday charts hundreds of thousands of previously unknown galaxies discovered using a telescope that can detect light sources optical instruments cannot see. More than 200 astronomers from 18 countries were involved in the study, which used radio astronomy to look at a segment of sky over the northern hemisphere, and found 300,000 previously unseen light sources thought to be distant galaxies. “This is a new window on the universe,” Cyril Tasse, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory who was involved in the project, said. “When we saw the first images we were like: ‘What is this?!’ It didn’t look anything at all like what we are used to seeing.” Radio astronomy allows scientists to detect radiation produced when massive celestial objects interact. The team used the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope in the Netherlands to pick up traces — or “jets” — of ancient radiation produced when galaxi...
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