Infrared Universe: Large Scale Structure

Large scale structure (LSS) of the local universe as seen through the far-infrared COBE/IRAS foreground dust mask. The COBE/IRAS image comes from LAMBDA and is derived from the work of Schlegel et al. (1998); see below. The 2MASS image shows the background galaxies color coded by their redshift (blue are close, red are far galaxies). See below for more details. Click here for a quicktime movie version.

Near-Infrared: starlight from the Milky Way and beyond

Galactic Structure: COBE-DIRBE image of the sky at 1.25, 2.2, and 3.5 um. Learn more about COBE.

Galactic Structure: 2MASS image of the sky at 1.2 - 2.2 um. The Milky Way dominates the counts, with over 500 million stars. Lost in the haze is another 4 to 6 million galaxies. Learn more about 2MASS.

Extra-galactic Structure: Panoramic view of the entire near-infrared sky reveals the distribution of galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The image is derived from the 2MASS Extended Source Catalog (XSC)--more than 1.5 million galaxies, and the Point Source Catalog (PSC)--nearly 0.5 billion Milky Way stars. More details are given in Jarrett 2004.

Mid-Infrared: starlight & hot dust from the Milky Way and beyond

Galactic Plane Structure: A false-color composite of the center of the Milky Way. Learn more about MSX.

Galactic Center Structure: Composite of 2MASS J (blue), Ks (green), and MSX Band A (6 - 11 um; red) image of the Galactic Center.

In the future, WISE will fill this hole -- revealing the whole sky as seen in the mid-infrared (tracing both starlight and hot dust from stars and distant galaxies). Patience ...

Far-Infrared: cold dust from the Milky Way and beyond

Galactic Structure: IRAS view of the far-infrared sky.

Galactic Structure: Using a combination of COBE and IRAS data, Finkbeiner, Davis & Schlegel (1999) derived models for thermal dust emission at microwave and submillimeter frequencies. This image, 94 GHz Model Dust Map, comes from LAMBDA.

Extra-galactic Structure: The IRAS PSC redshift survey is a redshift survey of some 15,000 galaxies detected in the IRAS Point Source Catalogue over 83% of the sky. PSCz velocity field is shown in this animation, where the density represents the galaxies moving outwards in increasingly distant shells in redshift (Dark colours show underdense regions, bright colours are overdense.) The image comes from the IRAS PSCz Redshift Survey of Will Saunders et al.

Radio realm: after glow from the Big Bang

Density fluctuations in the Early Universe WMAP view of the infant Universe. The image shows: " The first detailed, all-sky picture of the infant universe. The WMAP image reveals 13 billion+ year old temperature fluctuations (shown as color differences) that correspond to the seeds that grew to become the galaxies. Encoded in the patterns are the answers to many age-old questions, such as the age and geometry of the Universe." The image comes from the NASA/WMAP Science Team. Here is an animation that compares the Early Universe to the Current State of the Universe.

Related LSS Links

• Chart of the Local Universe; this map shows the 2MASS galaxies labeled with familiar clusters and superclusters.

• 2MASS REDSHIFT SURVEY (John Huchra is the 2MASS galaxies soul man); see also the CfA REDSHIFT SURVEY

• 6dF Galaxy Survey (this project aims to map the southern hemisphere sky in redshift-space)

• 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (magnificent project headed by Matthew Colles & Co.)

• Las Campanas Redshift Survey (a major redshift survey)

• SDSS 3D Map of Universe (see the amazing SDSS redshift map of the local universe)

• Max Tegmark's SDSS page (more great LSS links can be found here; see also here)

• Large Scale Structure in the Local Universe (Jarrett 2004)

• Atlas of the Universe (this is a great site for thinking about the scale of the universe; excellent diagrams of LSS)

• Allsky Images of the 2MASS XSC

• 2MASS Showcase (the best 2MASS images)

• NED (all galaxies, all the time)

• IRSA (get your infrared data here)

• LAMBA (where the COBE and MAP CMB data live)

• WMAP Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe

• Infrared Universe (EPO)

• Cool Cosmos (learn about the infrared here)

• incredible simulations of the early universe, galaxy mergers and the future of the Milky Way. A must see!

• Axel Mellinger's visual panorama of the Milky Way (this is a beautiful look at the visual sky)