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 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.
Credit:NASA, ESA and Q.D. Wang (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
About the Image
About the Object
| Name: | Milky Way |
| Type: | Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core |
| Distance: | 25000 light years |
| Constellation: | Sagittarius |
| Category: | Galaxies |
Image Formats
Coordinates
| Position (RA): | 17 45 45.38 |
| Position (Dec): | -28° 54' 23.55" |
| Field of view: | 20.47 x 9.66 arcminutes |
| Orientation: | North is 58.4° left of vertical |
View in ESASky:
View in WorldWide Telescope:
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
|---|---|---|
| Infrared Near-IR | 3.6 μm | Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC |
| Infrared Near-IR | 4.5 μm | Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC |
| Infrared Near-IR | 5.8 μm | Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC |
| Infrared Near-IR | 8.0 μm | Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC |
|
Hubble Space Telescope
NICMOS |