ISO view of the galactic plane

Comparing imagery from ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and 1983's IRAS infrared survey satellite.The lower right picture shows an IRAS map at a wavelength of 12 microns. The left image is ISOCAM's map at a wavelength of 15 microns, with its superior sensitivity and angular resolution, of the outlined box. This represents a small part of the data from this one programme to map some of the fainter and less well-known regions of our own Galaxy. [Image Date: 1996] [97.01.001-003]