Researchers at ICRAR used the Murchison Widefield Array to create the largest low‑frequency radio mosaic of the Milky Way, combining observations from 141 nights across seven years. Led by Silvia Mantovanini, the team split data into 20 wavelength bands (red→blue) and used ~1 million computing hours to stack and stitch the images into a zoomable mosaic spanning ~60,000 light‑years. The image reveals supernova remnants (long wavelengths, red) and star‑forming regions (short wavelengths, blue) and is twice the size and resolution of the 2019 map. It will remain the most detailed low‑frequency view until SKAO completes its survey within the next decade.
Journey Through the Milky Way: The Most Detailed Low‑Frequency Radio Image Yet
Researchers at ICRAR used the Murchison Widefield Array to create the largest low‑frequency radio mosaic of the Milky Way, combining observations from 141 nights across seven years. Led by Silvia Mantovanini, the team split data into 20 wavelength bands (red→blue) and used ~1 million computing hours to stack and stitch the images into a zoomable mosaic spanning ~60,000 light‑years. The image reveals supernova remnants (long wavelengths, red) and star‑forming regions (short wavelengths, blue) and is twice the size and resolution of the 2019 map. It will remain the most detailed low‑frequency view until SKAO completes its survey within the next decade.
06:20 AM, 11/12/2025Science
New ultra-detailed radio portrait of our galaxy
The scale of the Milky Way is hard to grasp: about 105,700 light‑years across. Researchers at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have produced the largest low‑frequency radio color mosaic of our galaxy to date, assembling observations from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) into a single, zoomable portrait.
The project, led by doctoral student Silvia Mantovanini, combined data collected over 141 nights spanning seven years. Rather than using visible light—which can be obscured by clouds of gas and dust—the team recorded low‑frequency radio waves that reveal features invisible to optical telescopes.
Each observation was divided into 20 radio wavelength bands and assigned a color (red for the longest wavelengths through blue for the shortest). Using roughly 1 million computing hours, the researchers stacked and stitched the frames into an enormous mosaic that spans about 60,000 light‑years across the sky.
"You can clearly identify remnants of exploded stars, represented by large red circles," Mantovanini said. "The smaller blue regions indicate stellar nurseries where new stars are actively forming."
The resulting image offers a radiant, edge‑on view of the Milky Way teeming with activity. Large red structures mark supernova remnants and other long‑wavelength phenomena, while smaller blue regions highlight sites of ongoing star formation. At twice the size and twice the resolution of the previous 2019 low‑frequency map, this mosaic will remain the most detailed view of the galaxy at these wavelengths until the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) completes its surveys over the next decade.
This dataset gives astronomers a rich resource for studying the galaxy’s structure, magnetic fields, particle acceleration, and the life cycles of stars. A zoomable version of the mosaic is publicly available for exploration, offering scientists and the public a new way to visually navigate our cosmic neighborhood.