Milky Way Mapped in 3-D

Eventually, with technology already being planned, the distances of all those objects will be accurately mapped as well, allowing astronomers to create a three-dimensional map of the Milky Way with unprecedented detail.

"We will be able to see gravitational waves setting off star formation," as those waves roll through the galactic disk, Walton said.

For now, the next step is to finish the Milky Way survey with another telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, Walton said. A survey telescope at the Very Large Telescope in Chile will be used for that and is expected to add another 600 million objects to the survey, he said.

"I think these surveys are incredibly important," said astronomer Ed Churchwell of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Churchwell was involved in a more detailed infrared survey of a smaller part of the Milky Way using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

Surveys not only stumble onto things no one ever thought to look for, said Churchwell, they also put together large pieces of the sky and reveal larger structures. "You see things that you might not have otherwise seen at all. It's very easy to miss something very big."

The massive amounts of data generated by the surveys also create public archives of stellar information which can be mined for decades by other researchers, Churchwell said.

Related Links :

Larry O'Hanlon's blog: Earth Impacts

Irene Klotz's blog: Space Diary

How Stuff Works: The Milky Way