You’ve never seen the Milky Way like this.

The APEX telescope in Chile mapped the Milky Way galaxy in a more detailed manner than ever before as part of the Apex Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy. The area mapped was four times larger than in previous surveys and the images were of much higher quality.

The stunning images were released by the European Southern Observatory to celebrate the completion of the survey.

According to CNN, the mapping was conducted between July 2007 and November 2010, with the findings published in the journal, "Astronomy & Astrophysics" in January.

For those who want to see more images, the ESO has archived all of the data on its website.

The ESO has also posted a video on YouTube capturing highlights from the survey.

http://youtu.be/Ip3YHk0gu0I

About the Author

Keep Reading

The air traffic control tower is seen on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, while smoke rises from the crash site of UPS flight 2976 near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Ky. (Jon Cherry/AP)

Credit: AP

Featured

Morning travelers make their way through Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport amid the ongoing government shutdown. Monday, Oct. 27, 2025 (Ben Hendren for the AJC)

Credit: Ben Hendren