Mapping the Stars: UNAM Astronomers Chart the Milky Way

Scientists from UNAM’s Institute of Astronomy (IA) have partnered with collaborators from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to produce the most precise map of the Milky Way’s interstellar region.

A central element of the project is the development of the Data Analysis Pipeline, a software tool that accurately corrects stellar continuum features and extracts key parameters from emission lines—such as flux, equivalent width, systemic velocity, and velocity dispersion—with remarkable precision.

Sebastián Francisco Sánchez Sánchez, a researcher at the IA and a team member, explained that the project aims to explore the galaxy’s interstellar medium in unprecedented detail. “We are mapping the interstellar medium of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies using a completely new technique,” he said.

As part of the project, the team captured a large-scale image of the Orion constellation comprising nearly 200,000 individual photographs. The image covers an area hundreds of times larger than the Moon, yet it represents less than one percent of the region they plan to survey.

Sánchez also noted that the IA developed the Data Analysis Pipeline in-house. The software was recently featured in The Astronomical Journal.