Excitement of Science
The Live Radio Sky
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This view of the radio sky is being gradually filled in by students at schools working as part of the Excitement of Science project.
It is connected live to our web-controlled 7-m radio telescope so that as soon as a school scans another bit of sky the results are automatically added to the image above.
The schools are mapping a strip of sky running 10 degrees either side of the plane of our own Milky Way galaxy. The image shown above extends about 15 degrees either side of the plane and runs 240 degrees around the sky from galactic longitude 240 degrees (at left) to the centre of the Milky Way at 0 degrees longitude (at right).
The colours on the image represent the strength of the radio signal coming from that point in the sky. Black is the weakest (or faintest) and white is the strongest (or brightest). Parts of the sky yet to be observed will appear black.
