Via Lactea is the Latin name for the Milky Way.

ENGADGET: 9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way reminds us just how small we truly are

The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey is an ESO public survey dedicated to scanning the southern plane and bulge of the Milky Way through five near-infrared filters.

ENGADGET: 9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way reminds us just how small we truly are

The team of astronomers is using data from the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea programme (VVV), one of six public surveys carried out with VISTA. The data have been used to create a monumental 108 200 by 81 500 pixel colour image containing nearly nine billion pixels.

ENGADGET: 9-gigapixel image of the Milky Way reminds us just how small we truly are