Credit: M. Hauser (STScI), the COBE/DIRB

This picture represents the brightness of the full sky as seen in infrared light. The bright yellow-orange line across the center of the image arises from interstellar dust in the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, with the center of the Galaxy at the center of the image. The red color above and below this line shows additional wispy clouds of interstellar dust. The blue S-shaped color arises from interplanetary dust in the solar system.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/1998/news-1998-01

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://hubblesite.org/copyright/