NASA's Great Observatories Examine the Galaxy Center

Spitzer_ssc2009-20a1_1024

spitzer_ssc2009-20a1 November 10th, 2009

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/CXC/STScI

In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, NASA's Great Observatories -- the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory -- have collaborated to produce an unprecedented image of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy.

In this spectacular image, observations using infrared light and X-ray light see through the obscuring dust and reveal the intense activity near the galactic core. Note that the center of the galaxy is located within the bright white region to the right of and just below the middle of the image. The entire image width covers about one-half a degree, about the same angular width as the full moon.

Each telescope's contribution is presented in a different color.

Yellow represents the near-infrared observations of Hubble. They outline the energetic regions where stars are being born as well as reveal hundreds of thousands of stars.

Red represents the infrared observations of Spitzer. The radiation and winds from stars create glowing dust clouds that exhibit complex structures from compact, spherical globules to long, stringy filaments.

Blue and violet represent the X-ray observations of Chandra. X-rays are emitted by gas heated to millions of degrees by stellar explosions and by outflows from the supermassive black hole in the galaxy's center. The bright blue blob on the left side is emission from a double star system containing either a neutron star or a black hole.

When these views are brought together, this composite image provides one of the most detailed views ever of our galaxy's mysterious core.

Provider: Spitzer Space Telescope

Image Source: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2798-ssc2009-20a1-NASA-s-Great-Observatories-Examine-the-Galaxy-Center

Curator: Spitzer Space Telescope, Pasadena, CA, USA

Image Use Policy: Public Domain

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Galactic Center Milky Way
Subject - Milky Way
Nebula > Type > Interstellar Medium
Galaxy > Component > Center/Core

Distance Details Distance

Universescale1
26,000 light years
Spitzer_ssc2009-20a1_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position
RA = 23h 59m 46.1s
DEC = 0° 0’ 18.5”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
39.0 x 15.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Pisces
Spitzer_ssc2009-20a1_1280
×
ID
ssc2009-20a1
Subject Category
B.4.1.1   B.5.4.9  
Subject Name
Galactic Center, Milky Way
Credits
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/CXC/STScI
Release Date
2009-11-10
Lightyears
26,000
Redshift
26,000
Reference Url
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2798-ssc2009-20a1-NASA-s-Great-Observatories-Examine-the-Galaxy-Center
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Instrument
Color Assignment
Band
Bandpass
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
359.941970000, -0.00513722188771
Reference Dimension
11700, 4500
Reference Pixel
5850.5, 2250.5
Scale
-5.55556000000000e-05, 5.55556000000000e-05
Rotation
0
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Spitzer Space Telescope
URL
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
1200 E. California Blvd.
City
Pasadena
State/Province
CA
Postal Code
91125
Country
USA
Rights
Public Domain
Publisher
Spitzer Science Center
Publisher ID
spitzer
Resource ID
ssc2009-20a1.tif
Metadata Date
2011-09-02
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
26,000 light years

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