Using Infrared Light to Survey Our Milky Way Galaxy | NASA Goddard FriendsofNASA.org: Observatories with smaller views of space have provided exquisite images of other galaxies, revealing complex structures. However, studying our own galaxy’s anatomy is surprisingly difficult. The plane of the Milky Way covers such a large area on the sky that studying it in detail can take a very long time. Astronomers also must peer through thick dust that obscures distant starlight. Infrared light can pass th