Gorgeous new Milky Way image maps our galaxy's dust
Astronomers have unveiled a huge, gorgeous new image of the Milky Way. It's the result of the ATLASGAL project — a complete survey of our galaxy's interstellar dust. That's right. Dust.
Space is full of dust, and the APEX telescope in Chile is able to detect it. When you map the galaxy's dust, you map the galaxy.
You can think of the new image as a portrait of the Milky Way, but from the side. So it's a very long and thin photo, but incredibly detailed.
The highlights you can see include nebulas where stars are being born and the crowded galactic center, which surrounds a supermassive black hole.
Click through to see the newly released images:
More from AOL.com:
NASA captures three of Saturn's moons in one stunning image
The 'snow' moon is coming up and here's what you need to know
After 40 years, NASA declassifies 'outer space music' heard by astronauts on Apollo 10
