On March 14th, interstellar dust is an important component of the Milky Way, and its distribution and properties are of great significance for understanding the structure, formation, and evolution of the galaxy. The absorption and scattering of starlight by dust can alter the luminosity and color of observed celestial bodies, and understanding the impact of dust is key to conducting various studies. However, depicting the three-dimensional distribution of the absorption and scattering characteristics of starlight by dust in the Milky Way has always been an important challenge in the field of astronomy. Recently, Chinese doctoral student Zhang Xiangyu from the Max Planck Institute in Germany and his supervisor Dr. Gregory Green collaborated to construct the world’s first database describing the absorption and scattering characteristics of interstellar dust on starlight at the scale of billions of stars, using data from China’s Guo Shoujing Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Gaia Space Telescope. They successfully drew a three-dimensional dust distribution and characteristics map of the Milky Way covering the entire sky for the first time, which is crucial for understanding the impact of dust on starlight absorption and scattering and provides a new perspective for astronomical observations, galactic evolution, cosmology, and other research. This achievement was published in the international academic journal Science on March 14th Beijing time.
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