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Galactic Center
Galactic Center in Thermal IR
The center of our Milky Way Galaxy showing emission from hot gas that will either form stars or feed the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Technical Details: The image quality for this Brackett-alpha (hydrogen) line image is FWHM=0.35 arcsec. This image was obtained with the...
Galactic Center
Hokupa'a image of full field of Galactic Center
Hokupa'a image of full field of Galactic Center (JHK' color composite).
Bow-Shock
IRS-8 Bow-Shock
The object, known by the unglamorous name of IRS8, was only an ill-defined smudge until Gemini came along. Now, the Gemini telescope's advanced optics show that IRS8 appears to be a star that is plowing through a poorly understood gas and dust cloud near the galactic center. Moving relative to...
Galactic Center
Galactic Center
This extremely high resolution image of the region around the galactic center (at lower right) shows new details including a bow-shock structure in an infrared source called IRS-8 (see close-up on this album). See Image Release for details Technical Details: Image is moasic of 4 images combined...
Milky Way
Galactic Center at 4 microns
This image shows the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy in the infrared at 4.05 microns, centered around the Brackett Alpha emission line. Despite being a combination of 42 separate frames, each separately calibrated for sky emission, the final picture still has a mean FWHM averaged over 24...
Gemini North
IRS-8 Bow-Shock
RS-8 smaller field JHK' color composite and K' image with stars subtracted. See https://www.gemini.edu/gallery/media/irs-8-bow-shock for more information.
Milky Way Galactic Centre
The centre of the Milky Way
The centre of our Milky Way galaxy is located in the southern constellation Sagittarius (The Archer) and is "only" 26,000 light-years away. On high-resolution images, it is possible to discern thousands of individual stars within the central, one light-year wide region. Using the motions of...
S2
The motion of a star around the central black hole in the Milky Way
The left panel shows an infrared NACO image of a ~ 2 x 2 arcsec 2 area, centred on the position of the compact radio source "SgrA*" at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy; it is marked by a small cross. The image was obtained in the K s -band at wavelength 2.1 µm in May 2002 and the angular...
Galactic Center
25 Images to Celebrate NASA's Chandra 25th Anniversary
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its launch, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is releasing 25 never-before-seen views of a wide range of cosmic objects.
Milky Way Galactic Centre
Colour composite of the Galactic Centre
Colour composite image of the Galactic Centre at a distance of about 30,000 light-years. It was made by combining images in filters centred at 8.6μm (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon molecular feature - coded blue), 12.8μm ([NeII] - coded green) and 19.5μm (coded red). Each pixel subtends 0.127...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
K-band image of the Galactic Centre
K-band image of the central 6 x 13 square arcsec around the Galactic Centre obtained by MACAO-VLTI under average atmospheric conditions (0.8 arcsec seeing) with an exposure time of 90 seconds. Although the 14.6 magnitude guide star is located roughly 20 arcsec from the field centre - this...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
Comparison of the central part of the Milky Way at different wavelengths
This picture shows the more familiar view in visible light, where most of the more distant structures are hidden from view. This is part of an image comparison.
Milky Way
Comparison of the central part of the Milky Way at different wavelengths
This image shows the same part of sky again at even shorter wavelengths, the near-infrared, as seen by ESO’s VISTA infrared survey telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. Regions appearing as dark dust tendrils here show up brightly in the ATLASGAL view. This image is part of a...
Milky Way
Comparison of the central part of the Milky Way at different wavelengths
This image shows the same region as seen in shorter, infrared, wavelengths by the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope.This image is part of a comparison image. This image is part of a comparison image.
Milky Way
Comparison of the central part of the Milky Way at different wavelengths
The top panel shows compact sources of submillimetre radiation detected by APEX as part of the ATLASGAL survey, combined with complementary data from ESA’s Planck satellite, to capture more extended features. This image is part of a comparison image.
Galactic Center
NASA Telescope Data Becomes Music You Can Play
A new collaboration is enabling actual data from NASA telescopes to be used as the basis for original music that humans can play.
Galactic Center
Chandra Takes In The Bright Lights, Big City Of The Milky Way
A 400 by 900 light-year mosaic of images located about 25,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius.
Sagittarius A*
Milky Way Monster Stars in Cosmic Reality Show
This image of Sgr A* was made from the longest X-ray exposure of that region to date.
Milky Way Galactic Centre
Wide-field view of the centre of the Milky Way
This visible light wide-field view shows the rich star clouds in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) in the direction of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. The entire image is filled with vast numbers of stars — but far more remain hidden behind clouds of dust and are only revealed...
Sagittarius A*
A view of the Milky Way supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* in polarised light
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of our Milky Way black hole released in 2022, has captured a new view of the massive object at the centre of our Galaxy: how it looks in polarised light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
First image of our black hole
This is the first image of Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. It’s the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which linked together eight existing radio observatories across...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
The galactic centre
The view of the centre of our galaxy with a closer view of the object known as Sagittarius A*, the bright radio source that corresponds to the supermassive black hole.
Milky Way Galactic Centre
HAWK-I view of the Milky Way’s central region (close-up)
This image features a close-up of a wide-field, near-infrared view of the central region of the Milky Way, taken with the HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope.
Milky Way Galactic Centre
View of the galactic centre
View of the Galactic centre captured with ESO's VISTA infrared survey telescope, as part of the Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) ESO public survey.
Milky Way Galactic Centre
HAWK-I view of the Milky Way’s central region
Taken with the HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in the Chilean Atacama Desert, this stunning image shows the Milky Way’s central region with an angular resolution of 0.2 arcseconds. This means the level of detail picked up by HAWK-I is roughly equivalent to seeing a football...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
Wide-field view of the centre of the Milky Way
This visible light wide-field view shows the rich star clouds in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) in the direction of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. The entire image is filled with vast numbers of stars — but far more remain hidden behind clouds of dust and are only revealed...
VVV CL002
VISTA view of the newly discovered globular cluster VVV CL002 close to the centre of the Milky Way
This image from VISTA is a tiny part of the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey that is systematically studying the central parts of the Milky Way in infrared light. In the centre lies the faint newly found globular star cluster, VVV CL002. This previously unknown globular, which...
Terzan 5
Around the star cluster Terzan 5
This wide-field image, based on data from Digitized Sky Survey 2, shows the whole region around the stellar grouping Terzan 5.
Milky Way
A 340-million pixel starscape from Paranal
The second of three images of ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project is a new and wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our galactic home, a 34 by 20-degree wide image that provides us with a view as experienced by amateur astronomers around the world. Taken by Stéphane Guisard, an...
Galactic Centre
GigagalaxyZoom phase 2
The two first images of ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project combined to show a whole view of the Milky Way as could be seen with the unaided eye, and a more central region observed with an amateur telescope.
Milky Way Galactic Centre
The Galactic Centre and Sagittarius B2
Colour-composite image of the Galactic Centre and Sagittarius B2 as seen by the ATLASGAL survey. The centre of the Milky Way is home to a supermassive black hole more than four million times the mass of our Sun. It is about 25 000 light years from Earth. Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) is one of the...
Arches Cluster
The Arches cluster
This image of the Arches Cluster of young, massive stars was obtained with NACO on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The field of view is 28 arcseconds. North is up and east is to the left. This image is a composite of infrared images obtained through J, H and K filters. The stars appear as bright...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
Submillimetre and infrared view of the Galactic Centre
This is a colour composite image of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy, about 26 000 light years from Earth. Giant clouds of gas and dust are shown in blue, as detected by the LABOCA instrument on the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope at submillimetre wavelengths (870...
Atacama Pathfinder Experiment
View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey (annotated and in five sections)
Colour-composite annotated image of part of the Galactic Plane seen by the ATLASGAL survey, divided into sections. In this image, the ATLASGAL submillimetre-wavelength data are shown in red, overlaid on a view of the region in infrared light, from the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) in green...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
Around the Arches Cluster
The turbulent central region of our Milky Way is shown in this beautiful picture taken with the Wide Field Imager attached to the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope. Near the centre of the image — and of our Galaxy — a supermassive black hole lurks (see ESO Press Release eso0846). Dense dust found...
Galactic Centre
One million stars — towards the dark heart of the Milky Way*
With this remarkable VISTA mosaic we look deep into the dusty heart of our own Milky Way galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). About one million stars are revealed in this picture, most of them not seen in visible light pictures. As well as absorbing light, the dust also...
Milky Way Galactic Centre
HAWK-I view of the Milky Way’s central region
Taken with the HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in the Chilean Atacama Desert, this stunning image shows the Milky Way’s central region with an angular resolution of 0.2 arcseconds. This means the level of detail picked up by HAWK-I is roughly equivalent to seeing a football...
Raw image from the NACO instrument
A raw image straight from the NACO instrument on the VLT.
Milky Way
Images of gas cloud being ripped apart by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way
New observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope show for the first time a gas cloud being ripped apart by the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy. Shown here are VLT observations from 2006, 2010 and 2013, coloured blue, green and red respectively. Due to its distance, and the...
Milky Way
Gas cloud being ripped apart by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way
New observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope show how a gas cloud now passing close to the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy is being ripped apart. The horizontal axis shows the extent of the cloud along its orbit and the vertical axis shows the velocities of different...
Milky Way
Images of gas cloud being ripped apart by the black hole at the centre of the galaxy
These observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope, using the SINFONI instrument, show how a gas cloud is being stretched and ripped apart as it passes close to the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy. The horizontal axis shows the extent of the cloud along its orbit and the...
Milky Way
Gas cloud being ripped apart by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way (annotated)
New observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope show how a gas cloud now passing close to the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy is being ripped apart. The horizontal axis shows the extent of the cloud along its orbit and the vertical axis shows the velocities of different...
Sagittarius A*
Cloudlets swarm around our local supermassive black hole
This image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) shows the area surrounding Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole that lurks at the centre of the Milky Way — highlighted here with a small circle. New research has revealed exciting evidence of interstellar gas and...
Galactic Centre
Looking into the Milky Way’s heart — ISAAC observes the Galactic Centre
The centre of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is again in the sights of ESO telescopes. This time it’s the turn of ISAAC, the VLT’s near- and mid-infrared spectrometer and camera. From Chile’s Atacama Desert, site of the ESO observatories, the Milky Way offers magnificent views, particularly in...
Black hole
First image of our black hole (with wider background)
This is the first image of Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, with an added black background to fit wider screens. It’s the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which linked...
Sagittarius A*
Stars around Sgr A* in June 2021
This image show stars orbiting very close to Sgr A* (centre), the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. They were obtained with the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the end of June 2021.
Sagittarius A*
Stars around Sgr A* in March 2021
This image show stars orbiting very close to Sgr A* (centre), the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. They were obtained with the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the end of March 2021.
Sagittarius A*
Stars around Sgr A* in May 2021
This image show stars orbiting very close to Sgr A* (centre), the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. They were obtained with the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the end of May 2021.
Sagittarius A*
Stars around Sgr A* in July 2021
This image show stars orbiting very close to Sgr A* (centre), the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. They were obtained with the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the end of July 2021.
NACO observation of the stars at the centre of the Milky Way
This image is one of hundreds collected using the NACO instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile over a two-decade period to monitor the motions of stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
Galactic Centre
The centre of the Milky Way*
The central parts of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, as observed in the near-infrared with the NACO instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. By following the motions of the most central stars over more than 16 years, astronomers were able to determine the mass of the supermassive black hole that...
RR Lyr
Variable stars close to the galactic centre
This image, captured with the VISTA infrared survey telescope, as part of the Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) ESO public survey, shows the central part of the Milky Way. While normally hidden behind obscuring dust, the infrared capabilities of VISTA allow to study the stars close to the...
Sagittarius B1
Peering through the dust
This Picture of the Week shows an infrared view of Sagittarius B1, a region close to the centre of the Milky Way, imaged with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The centre of our galaxy is an exotic environment, densely populated with stars, and has been suggested to have more star...
Sagittarius C
Hiding in the crowd
Hundreds of thousands of stars are contained in this Picture of the Week, an infrared image of Sagittarius C, a region near the centre of the Milky Way. Taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the Chilean Atacama Desert, this image is helping astronomers unlock a stellar puzzle. The...
Arches Cluster
Star Factory Near Galactic Center Bathed In High-Energy X-Rays
This composite image shows an envelope of 60-million-degree gas around a young cluster of stars, known as the Arches cluster.
A new collection of stunning images highlights data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes.
Sagittarius C
Sagittarius C (NIRCam Image)
The full view of the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument reveals a 50 light-years-wide portion of the Milky Way’s dense center. An estimated 500,000 stars shine in this image of the Sagittarius C (Sgr C) region, along with some as-yet unidentified features. A...
Sgr A*
MINI-JET FOUND NEAR MILKY WAY’S SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE
Hubble Finds a Smoldering Remnant in a Blast From the Past
Milky Way
SEYFERT FLARE ILLUSTRATION
INTENSE FLASH FROM MILKY WAY'S BLACK HOLE ILLUMINATED GAS FAR OUTSIDE OF OUR GALAXY
Slime Mold
COSMIC WEB AND SLIME MOLD
TRACING THE LOCATION OF THE COSMIC WEB USING SLIME MOLD SIMULATIONS
Milky Way
Milky Way Raids Intergalactic 'Bank Accounts,' Hubble Study Finds
Astronomers have discovered an unexplained surplus of gas flowing into our Milky Way after conducting a galaxy-wide audit of outflowing and inflowing gas. Rather than a gas equilibrium and "balanced books," 10 years of data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show there is more gas coming in than...
Magellanic Stream
Hubble Measures Content of the Leading Arm of the Magellanic Stream
Hubble Measures the Content of the Leading Arm of the Magellanic Stream
Milky Way
Hubble's Journey to the Center of Our Galaxy
Hubble's infrared vision pierced the dusty heart of our Milky Way galaxy to reveal more than half a million stars at its core. Except for a few blue, foreground stars, the stars are part of the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster, the most massive and densest stellar cluster in our galaxy. Located...
Galactic Center
Galactic Center Region in Near-Infrared from Hubble
Although best known for its visible-light images, the Hubble Space Telescope also observes over a limited range of infrared light. The galactic center is marked by the bright patch in the lower right. Along the left side are large arcs of warm gas that have been heated by clusters of bright...
Galactic Center
NASA's Great Observatories Examine the Galactic Center Region
A 2009 Hubble Space Telescope image of Galactic Center.
Galactic Center
HST-Spitzer Composite of Galactic Center (Full-field)
A 2009 Hubble Space Telescope image of Galactic Center.
Galactic Center
Hubble NICMOS Mosaic of the Galactic Center
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope infrared mosaic image represents the sharpest survey of the Galactic Center to date. It reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 x 115 light-years. This sweeping...
Galactic Center
Hubble-Spitzer Color Mosaic of the Galactic Center
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...
Arches Cluster
The Milky Way's Densest Star Cluster: The Arches Cluster
A 2005 Hubble Space Telescope image of Arches Cluster.
Arches Cluster
Quintuplet Cluster
A 1999 Hubble Space Telescope image of Quintuplet Cluster.
Arches Cluster
Arches Cluster
A 1999 Hubble Space Telescope image of Arches Cluster.
Arches Cluster
The Arches and c Near the Milky Way's Galactic Center
Penetrating 25,000 light-years of obscuring dust and myriad stars, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided the clearest view yet of a pair of the largest young clusters of stars inside our Milky Way galaxy, located less than 100 light-years from the very center of the Galaxy. Having the...
Pistol Nebula
The Pistol Star: A Brilliant Star in Milky Way's Core
One of the intrinsically brightest stars in our galaxy appears as the bright white dot in the center of this image taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) was needed to take the picture, because the star is hidden at the...
Milky Way
Spitzer Finds Clarity in the Inner Milky Way
More than 800,000 frames from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create this infrared portrait of dust and stars radiating in the inner Milky Way.
Milky Way
Inner Milky Way Raging with Star Formation
More than 444,580 frames from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create this portrait of the raging star-formation occurring in the inner Milky Way.
Milky Way
Counting the Youth in a Middle Aged Galaxy
This image is roughly 1/34 of the entire GLIMPSE Survey. This small section is riddled with young stellar objects, counted by Robitaille and his team.
Double Helix Nebula
Double Helix Nebula
The double helix nebula as revelaed in the infrared by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The spots are infrared-luminous stars, mostly red giants and red supergiants. Many other stars are present in this region, but are too dim to appear even in this sensitive infrared image.
Galactic Center
Spitzer 8.0 micron View of the Milky Way Center
Our Milky Way is a dusty place. So dusty, in fact, that we cannot see the center of the galaxy in visible light. But when NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on the galactic center, it captured this spectacular view. But when NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes...
Galactic Center
NASA's Great Observatories Examine the Galaxy Center
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 produced a matched trio of images of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy.
Milky Way
Stars Gather in 'Downtown' Milky Way
A view from the bustling center of our galactic metropolis. Spitzer Space Telescope offers us a fresh, infrared view of the frenzied scene at the center of our Milky Way, revealing what lies behind the dust.
Galactic Center
Spitzer View of the Center of the Milky Way
This dazzling infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows hundreds of thousands of stars crowded into the swirling core of our spiral Milky Way galaxy.
Milky Way
A sky full of glittering jewels
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has given us a keyhole view towards the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy, where a dazzling array of stars reside. Most of the view of our galaxy is obscured by dust. Hubble peered into the Sagittarius Star Cloud, a narrow, dust-free region, providing this...
Sagittarius A*
A monster in the Milky Way
This image, not unlike a pointillist painting, shows the star-studded centre of the Milky Way towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The crowded centre of our galaxy contains numerous complex and mysterious objects that are usually hidden at optical wavelengths by clouds of dust but many...
Sagittarius
Hubble extrasolar planet search field in Sagittarius [full ACS view]
This is an image of one-half of the Hubble Space Telescope field of view in the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS). The field contains approximately 150,000 stars, down to 30th magnitude. The stars in the Galactic disk and bulge have a mixture of colours and masses....
Pistol Star
Star clusters near the center of the galaxy
This 4-million-year-old cluster, The Quintuplet Cluster, is more dispersed than the Arches Cluster. It has stars on the verge of blowing up as supernovae. It is the home of the brightest star seen in the Milky Way, called the Pistol star.
Arches Cluster
Star clusters near the center of the galaxy
The Arches cluster is so dense that over 100,000 of its stars would fill a spherical region in space whose radius is the distance between the Sun and its nearest neighbor, the star Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light-years away. At least 150 of its stars are among the brightest ever seen in the Galaxy.
Sagittarius
Galactic centre region in near-infrared from Hubble
Although best known for its visible-light images, the Hubble Space Telescope also observes over a limited range of infrared light. The galactic centre is marked by the bright patch in the lower right. Along the left side are large arcs of warm gas that have been heated by clusters of bright...
Sagittarius
Galactic centre region in X-rays from Chandra
X-rays detected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory expose a wealth of exotic objects and high-energy features. In this image, pink represents lower energy X-rays and blue indicates higher energy. Hundreds of small dots show emission from material around black holes and other dense stellar...
Sagittarius
Hubble and other Great Observatories examine the galactic centre region
In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and its companion Great Observatories: 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....
Sagittarius
Galactic centre region in infrared from Spitzer
The Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared-light observations provide a detailed and spectacular view of the galactic centre region. The swirling core of our galaxy harbours hundreds of thousands of stars that cannot be seen in visible light. These stars heat the nearby gas and dust. These dusty...
Milky Way
Hubble-Spitzer colour mosaic of the galactic centre
This composite colour infrared image of the centre of our Milky Way galaxy reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionised gas swirling around the central 300 light-years. This sweeping panorama is the sharpest infrared picture ever made of the...
Pistol Nebula
Hubble Uncovers Brilliant Star in Milky Way's Core
One of the intrinsically brightest stars in our galaxy appears as the bright white dot in the center of this image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) was needed to take the picture, because the star is hidden at the...
Arches Cluster
The most crowded place in the Milky Way
This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. It is located about 25 000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), close to the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way. It is, like its...
Galactic Centre
The galactic centre
This infrared image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the centre of the Milky Way, 27 000 light-years away from Earth. Using the infrared capabilities of Hubble, astronomers were able to peer through the dust which normally obscures the view of this interesting region. At the...
Milky Way
Hubble-Spitzer composite of the galactic centre (full-field)
This composite colour infrared image combines the sharp imaging of the Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) with colour imagery from a previous Spitzer Space Telescope survey done with its Infrared Astronomy Camera (IRAC). This combination gives a...
Milky Way
Mosaic of the galactic centre
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope infrared mosaic image represents the sharpest survey of the galactic centre to date. It reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 x 115 light-years. This sweeping...
Sagittarius
Hubble extrasolar planet search field in Sagittarius [excerpt]
This is an excerpt of the Hubble Space Telescope field of view in the Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search (SWEEPS).
Pistol Star
Uncovering the secrets of the Quintuplet Cluster
Although this cluster of stars gained its name due to its five brightest stars, it is home to hundreds more. The huge number of massive young stars in the cluster is clearly captured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image. The cluster is located close to the Arches Cluster and is just...
Arches Star Cluster
Arches Cluster: Keck I 10m (1996)
This picture was taken in 1996 using the 10 metre Keck telescope at Hawaii. It presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. The cluster is located about 25 000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Sagattrius. The radius of the cluster is only about...
Arches Star Cluster
Arches Cluster: Lick 3m (1994)
This picture was taken in 1994 using the 3 metre Lick telescope from the University of Claifornia. It presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. The cluster is located about 25 000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius. The radius of the...
Arches Star Cluster
Arches Cluster: Hubble/NICMOS (1997)
This ESO/NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way. It is located about 25 000 light years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius. The radius of the cluster is only about one light year, but it contains about 150...
Arches Cluster
Star clusters near the center of the galaxy
Penetrating 25, 000 light-years of obscuring dust and myriad stars, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided the clearest view yet of a pair of the largest young clusters of stars inside our Milky Way galaxy, located less than 100 light-years from the very centre of the Galaxy. Having...
Sagittarius
Hubble celebrates International Year of Astronomy with new view of Milky Way
A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy provided by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and its companion Great Observatories (the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory) is being unveiled on 10 Nov 2009. This event will commemorate the 400...
Galactic Center
The Center of our Milky Way Galaxy
Through the layers of dust that shroud the center of our galaxy from optical telescopes lurks a complex hub of activity. In this wide field Very Large Array (VLA) image, the supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy shines brightly in radio waves. Surrounding it are the winds and rivers...
Galactic Center
The Center of Our Galaxy
The Very Large Array (VLA) was used to make the largest and most sensitive radio image of the Milky Way Galaxy\'s center. The bright diagonal features trace our Galaxys disk-like shape viewed edge-on. The brightest source is called Sagittarius A. (The Galaxy\'s center lies toward the...
Sagittarius A*
A black hole, in radio and X-ray, at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy
The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Sagittarius A*
New Evidence For A Jet From Milky Way's Black Hole
The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Sgr A*
Jets in a Newly Formed Star
Double-lobe feature produced by jets from one of the newly forming stars. ALMA discovered 11 of these telltale signs of star formation remarkably close to the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Sgr A*
Earliest Phase of Star Formation Ever Observed in Highly Hostile Environment
An ALMA image of the center of the Milky Way galaxy showing the location of 11 young protostars within about 3 light-years of our galaxy's supermassive black hole. The lines indicate the direction of the bipolar lobes created by high-velocity jets from the protostars. The illustrated star in the...
Sagittarius A*
Pointing X-ray Eyes at our Resident Supermassive Black Hole
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured these first, focused views of the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy in high-energy X-ray light. The background image, taken in infrared light, shows the location of our Milky Way's humongous black hole, called...
Sagittarius A*
First Look at Milky Way's Monster in High-Energy X-ray Light
This is the first, focused high-energy X-ray view of the area surrounding the supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A*, at the center of our galaxy. The image was taken by NASA's black-hole hunter, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. Different X-ray energies have been...
Sagittarius A*
X-ray Flare at the Center of the Milky Way
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured these first, focused views of the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy in high-energy X-ray light. This time series shows a flare caught by NuSTAR over an observing period of two days in July 2012.
Milky Way
Extra X-rays at the Hub of our Milky Way Galaxy
NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured a new high-energy X-ray view (magenta) of the bustling center of our Milky Way galaxy. The smaller circle shows the area where the NuSTAR image was taken -- the very center of our galaxy, where a giant black hole resides.
Milky Way
High-Energy X-rays Fill Center of our Galaxy
This picture from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, NuSTAR, shows very center of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists were surprised to find more high-energy X-rays than predicted in the surrounding regions, seen here as the elliptical haze.
Milky Way
The Case of the Warped Galactic Ring
In a strange twist of science, astronomers using the Herschel Space Observatory have discovered that a suspected ring at the center of our galaxy is warped for reasons they cannot explain.
Milky Way
The Milky Way's Twisted Ring (annotated)
In a strange twist of science, astronomers using the Herschel Space Observatory have discovered that a suspected ring at the center of our galaxy is warped for reasons they cannot explain.
Galactic Center
Chandra Discovers X-ray Source at the Center of Our Galaxy
The innermost 10 light years at the center of our galaxy.
Sagittarius A*: Sgr A*: Galactic Center
Chandra Catches Milky Way Monster Snacking
A compact radio source in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy thought to be a supermassive black hole.
Sagittarius A East
Scientists Discover Supernova May Control Activity in the Center of Our Galaxy
Supernova remnant Sagittarius A East. For the first time, Chandra has resolved the complex structures at the center of our Milky Way galaxy through X-ray observations. In addition to the supermassive black hole, Sgr A*, astronomers have found the remains of a supernova that exploded some 10,000...
Galactic Center Radio Arc
X-ray Gas Associated With Galactic Center Radio Arc
Observations of a region of the Galactic Center have found an X-ray filament and cloud about 40 light years across.
