Milky Way Monster
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Red Orbit
Milky Way Monster
October 29, 2013
This image
shows the star-studded center of the Milky Way towards the constellation
of Sagittarius. The crowded center of our galaxy contains numerous
complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical
wavelengths by clouds of dust — but many are visible here in these
infrared observations from Hubble.
However, the most famous cosmic object in this image still remains invisible: the monster at our galaxy’s heart called Sagittarius A*. Astronomers have observed stars spinning around this supermassive black hole (located right in the center of the image), and the black hole consuming clouds of dust as it affects its environment with its enormous gravitational pull.
Infrared observations can pierce through thick obscuring material to reveal information that is usually hidden to the optical observer. This is the best infrared image of this region ever taken with Hubble, and uses infrared archive data from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, taken in September 2011.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Brammer
However, the most famous cosmic object in this image still remains invisible: the monster at our galaxy’s heart called Sagittarius A*. Astronomers have observed stars spinning around this supermassive black hole (located right in the center of the image), and the black hole consuming clouds of dust as it affects its environment with its enormous gravitational pull.
Infrared observations can pierce through thick obscuring material to reveal information that is usually hidden to the optical observer. This is the best infrared image of this region ever taken with Hubble, and uses infrared archive data from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, taken in September 2011.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Brammer
posted by Pieface @ 7:58 AM
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