Vatican City, 20 October, 2023 / 4:35 pm (ACI Africa).
Astronomers gathered at the Vatican Observatory this month to hear the results of major research into thousands of previously hidden galaxies that the Milky Way has long obscured.
A press release from the Vatican’s astronomical research station said astronomers gathered there earlier in October “to present the latest results of a deep survey of the heart of the Milky Way,” known as the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea extended (VVVX) survey.
Astronomers have long been frustrated by what is known in celestial science as the “Zone of Avoidance,” a patch of the sky in which our own Milky Way galaxy blocks out galaxies and other objects.
A variety of stargazing techniques have been developed and attempted over the years to try to peer through this region of the sky in order to see the universe beyond it.
Using sophisticated new technology, the VVVX team were “able to peer through the dust and see even distant galaxies on the other side of the Milky Way,” the observatory said in its announcement.