A density map of part of the Milky Way disk, constructed from IPHAS data. Hywel Farnhill, University of Hertfordshire.

The most detailed map ever made of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, includes 219 million stars. A team led by Geert Barentsen of the University of Hertfordshire in the UK combined 10 years of ...

The map shows how extinction builds with distance away from the Sun — typically out to 12,000 light-years or more — in any part of the surveyed northern Milky Way.