Galactic archaeology »
The Southern Sky Survey that is being carried out by the SkyMapper telescope will be instrumental to scientists studying the properties of the Milky Way, since it will provide a census of over 5 billion stars in the Galaxy. The instrument and survey design will allow astronomers to derive measurements of metallicity, gravity, temperature, and variability for many of these stars, and to continue to map the structure of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds in increasing detail.