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Infrared image of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy
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Infrared image of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy
This composite color infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 light-years. This sweeping panorama is the sharpest infrared picture ever made of the Galactic core. It offers a nearby laboratory for how massive stars form and influence their environment in the often violent nuclear regions of other galaxies. This view combines the sharp imaging of the Hubble Space Telescopes Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) with color imagery from a previous Spitzer Space Telescope survey done with its Infrared Astronomy Camera (IRAC). The Galactic core is obscured in visible light by intervening dust clouds, but infrared light penetrates the dust.
The spatial resolution of NICMOS corresponds to 0.025 light-years at the distance of the galactic core of 26, 000 light-years. Hubble reveals details in objects as small as 20 times the size of our own solar system. NICMOS shows a large number of these massive stars distributed throughout the region. A new finding is that astronomers now see that the massive stars are not confined to one of the three known clusters of massive stars in the Galactic Center, known as the Central cluster, the Arches cluster, and the Quintuplet cluster. These three clusters are easily seen as tight concentrations of bright, massive stars in the NICMOS image. The distributed stars may have formed in isolation, or they may have originated in clusters that have been disrupted by strong gravitational tidal forces. The winds and radiation from these stars form the complex structures seen in the core, and in some cases, they may be triggering new generations of stars. At upper left, large arcs of ionized gas are resolved into arrays of intriguingly organized linear filaments indicating perhaps a critical role of the influence of locally strong magnetic fields. The lower left region shows pillars of gas sculpted by winds from hot massive stars in the Quintuplet cluster. At the center of the image, ionized gas surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy is confined to a bright spiral embedded within a circum-nuclear dusty inner-tube-shaped torus. The NICMOS images were taken between February 22 and June 5, 2008
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Arch Black Holes Bright Center Cluster Core Cosmic Cosmic Dust Cosmology Dust Galactic Galaxy Glow Illuminated Infrared Luminous Milky Way Panoramic Regions Shining Starfield Supermassive Black Holes View From Space
EDITORS COMMENTS
This stunning print captures the center of our Milky Way galaxy in a mesmerizing display of colors and intricate details. The composite color infrared image, created using data from the Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) as well as the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Astronomy Camera (IRAC), unveils a new population of massive stars and offers unprecedented insights into the complex structures within the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 light-years. The sharpness and clarity of this panoramic view make it the sharpest infrared picture ever taken of the Galactic core. It serves as a nearby laboratory for studying how massive stars form and influence their environment in other galaxies' nuclear regions, which are often characterized by violence. One remarkable finding is that these massive stars are not confined to one specific cluster but are instead distributed throughout this region. This suggests that they may have formed either in isolation or within clusters that were disrupted by strong gravitational tidal forces. The winds and radiation emitted by these massive stars give rise to intricate structures seen throughout this image, potentially triggering new generations of star formation. Notably, linear filaments hint at locally strong magnetic fields playing a critical role in shaping these arcs of ionized gas. At its center lies a supermassive black hole surrounded by ionized gas confined to a bright spiral embedded within a circum-nuclear dusty inner-tube-shaped torus—a captivating sight indeed. Taken between February 22 and June 5,2008, this extraordinary photograph showcases both the beauty and scientific significance found within our own galactic backyard.
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