Google the Milky Way and you'll find plenty of images of the galaxy that we call home.
You may not realize that none of those images, including the ones that look like authentic photographs, are real. Every image of the Milky Way is an illustration, according to IFLScience, because our only view comes from a single vantage point on the edge of one the spiraling arms.
But according to Reuters, a new ultra-detailed image of a neighboring galaxy called the Sculptor is the real deal. Similar in size, mass, and structure to the Milky Way, the Sculptor finally gives us the chance to see what our own cluster of stars might really look like.
Astronomers obtained the image right here on Earth with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile — one of the world's largest telescopes that also helped capture the first true images of a black hole. The telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument captured the image of the Sculptor (also known as NGC 253) in around 4,000 different colors that span the optical spectrum.
Researchers say that the Sculptor is perfectly positioned to capture the larger picture and fine details — just 11 million light-years from Earth, or around 5.9 trillion miles. The images have already yielded new information about galaxies, star formation, and interstellar gas.
While the Milky Way and the Sculptor are similarly sized barred spiral galaxies, the Sculptor forms new stars at a rate two to three times greater than our own galaxy.
