F O R   I M M E D I A T E   R E L E A S E

P R E S S  R E L E A S E

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Astronomers from Jodrell Bank and Cardiff University today revealed a new way for members of the public to explore the galaxy. Their online tool, Chromoscope, allows anyone to view the Milky Way and the distant Universe more easily than ever before. The site shows the sky in a range of wavelengths, from high-energy gamma rays through to the longest radio waves.

Project member Robert Simpson, from Cardiff, said “Chromoscope sheds new light on familiar objects, such as the Orion nebula, our closest stellar nursery. This view of the Universe has been familiar to professional astronomers for a long while, but Chromoscope makes it accessible to everyone.”

The Chromoscope site is being launched at the dotAstronomy conference in Leiden, Netherlands. dotAstronomy is the world’s largest annual conference dedicated to work which combines cutting-edge astronomy with the latest on the web technology.

Lead developer, Stuart Lowe, from the University of Manchester, remarked that Chromoscope is a collaborative project. “Chromoscope uses data from a range of observatories, including the giant radio telescope at Jodrell Bank”, he said, “this allows people to see the connections between the night sky we see with our own eyes and the sky that astronomers explore in different wavelengths, such as radio and the infrared.”

Collaborator, Chris North from Cardiff University – also a researcher on BBC’s long-running Sky at Night programme – commented “We wanted to create something that was accessible to not only the general public, but also schools. Chromoscope can be downloaded and then used without an internet connection – or placed on a USB memory stick and passed around”.

The project involves data from ROSAT (X-ray), the Digital Sky Survey (optical), IRAS (infrared), WMAP (microwave) and other all-sky astronomical surveys. There are more wavelengths lined up and ready to go in the near future. It will be available at http://www.chromoscope.net from Thursday morning.

E N D  O F  P R E S S  R E L E A S E
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Contact:

Stuart Lowe
E-mail: slowe@jb.man.ac.uk

Robert Simpson
Tel: +44 (0)7929 508961
E-mail: robert.simpson@astro.cf.ac.uk

Chris North
Tel: +44 (0)7815 115636
E-Mail: chris.north@astro.cf.ac.uk

.Astronomy 2009 is an event of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

.Astronomy 2009 is supported by the Lorentz Center, NWO, ASTRON, the European programme RadioNet, the British Council/Platform Beta Techniek’s Partnership in Science programme and the Royal Astronomical Society.

Links:
http://www.chromoscope.net/
Twitter: @chromoscope
Blog: http://blog.chromoscope.net/

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