Starring role in producing galaxy image

Scientists created the colour picture by combining infra-red light images from telescopes in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Large structures of the Milky Way galaxy, such as gas and dust clouds where stars have formed and died, can be seen in the image.

The picture represents part of a ten-year project involving scientists from the UK, Europe and Chile, who gathered data from the two telescopes.

The information has been processed and archived by teams at Edinburgh and Cambridge universities, who have made it available to astronomers around the world for further studies. Archived information from the project is expected to enable scientists to carry out groundbreaking research.