GLIMPSE/MIPSGAL Milky Way Viewer
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by
gwolfchase
scientist
Several people have asked about sky coordinates and sizes of images in the Milky Way Project. Objects in the Talk gallery are given in galactic coordinates under the image. These numbers are given in degrees. The first number is the galactic latitude and the second is galactic longitude. These are similar to latitude and longitude on Earth, except galactic latitude is measure in positive and negative degrees north and south of the plane of the Milky Way, and galactic longitude is measured from the center of the Milky Way. For those who want to "dig deeper", I recommend exploring the www.alienearths.org/glimpse site. Here, you can launch a viewer that shows the Spitzer Space Telescope survey of the Milky Way. Once you launch the viewer, you can use a slidebar at the bottom left of the display to swicth between "IRAC" and "IRAC/MIPS". "IRAC/MIPS" will display images with a similar color scheme to those currently used in the Milky Way Project. If you click on a little box labeled "COORDINATES" at the top right of the image, the display will indicate galactic coordinates as you mouse over the image (L stands for galactic longitude and B for galactic latitude). This way, you can hunt for your favorite images and see them in the context of a larger view of the Milky Way. Note that the contrast is higher for images in the Milky Way Project, so don't be surprised if some of your favorite objects look a lot fainter in the Viewer display. Have fun!
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I find it helpful to get a view corresponding to the object in MWP, then click "LINK TO CURRENT VIEW" in GLIMPSE, then copy the link to the Comments box for my object. That way, the next interested person can find the spot easily.
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