The Milky Way in 3D
v1:The Sun's Neighborhood
Welcome to a new view of the Milky Way... in 3D!
With community input, milkyway3d.org serves as a hub for an interconnected set of outreach, education, and research resources that allow astronomers to improve our understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the Milky Way. The project is motivated by an ever-growing list of key research questions, coming from a worldwide network of collaborators, and it's initial version focuses on structures "near" the Sun (within a few kpc).
MilkyWay3D.org activities are coordinated with new software development and approaches to data sharing. It serves as the key demonstration project for LIVE-Astro, the astronomy portion of the "Linkable, Interactive, Visualization, & Exploration" or "LIVE" Environments project. As part of LIVE's and MilkyWay3D.org's commitment to Open Science, all data sets and software collected, connected, and created is being made available to all.
Debut in Pasadena
The first time MilkyWay3D.org was presented to the astronomy research community was at the 2023 Surveying the Milky Way: The Universe in Our Own Backyard conference, in the poster shown here, and in talks by PI Catherine Zucker and Harvard graduate student Theo O'Neill.
What's MilkyWay3D.org according to an LLM?
Quoting ChatGPT 4o's response to the query "summarize the project described in the webpages at milkyway3d.org"...
"MilkyWay3D.org is a project dedicated to creating a comprehensive three-dimensional map of the Milky Way galaxy. By compiling data from various astronomical surveys and telescopes, the initiative aims to visualize the structure, composition, and dynamics of our galaxy in unprecedented detail. This 3D representation includes the distribution of stars, gas clouds, and other celestial objects, providing valuable insights into galactic formation and evolution. The project serves as a resource for researchers, educators, and astronomy enthusiasts, enhancing our understanding of the Milky Way and promoting public interest in space science."
"As seen on TV"
In late 2023, MilkyWay3D.org imagery, as seen in glue and WorldWide Telescope, was featured (21 sec in, after ads) in this Apple launch of the M3 Macs.
