Photo courtesy to CCTV

China’s national astronomical observatories on Wednesday published the world’s largest catalogue with a total of 11.25 million stellar parameters, collected by China Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), the world’s largest spectral survey telescope, also named Guo Shoujing Telescope after the 13th-centry Chinese astronomer.

During the seven-year operation, some 9.37 million stellar parameters of high quality were disclosed by domestic astronomers and overseas partners, which is double the sum of other that found in other countries.

The LAMOST DR6 catalogue of stellar parameters has currently the world’s most complete sky coverage and the largest survey volume and sampling density, providing a powerful and basic data foundation for studies of the Milky Way, galaxy formation, and evolution, according to China’s national astronomical observatories.

A total of 769 clients from 124 institutions and universities in the US, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark are using LAMOST’s data for cutting-edge research. Some achievements have been made on the formation and evolution of the Milky Way, stellar physics, and special celestial search, China Central Television reported.