BEYOND THE CRUX​

 

Suitable for all

Film & talk length: 5 - 15 mins

 

Observing over one hundred thousand galaxies was a massive task. Here it is, the entire southern sky, mapped out.

 

So, just how big is it out there?

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What are the distances?

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Can we travel to other stars?..... Or galaxies?

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Is Space filled with stuff?.... Or is it empty?

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Background

An international team of astronomers started an ambitious project in 2001 to measure the distances to more than one hundred thousand galaxies – and in the process, map a sizable volume of our nearby universe. Measuring the masses and motions of the galaxies was also part of the plan: all the ingredients that shape the content of the Universe in which we live.

Over the next 6 years, they mapped nearly the entire southern sky. Observing over one hundred thousand galaxies was a massive task.

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The end result is a new appreciation for the way galaxies cluster and move in our local universe, and how they have come to be that way. The data, maps, and results are now available to other researchers and the public.

 

Our school Planetarium show also includes a guided ‘What’s in the sky tonight’ presentation and a Solar System walk through covering relevant aspects of the NSW curriculum.