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.
[Top Frame] – The spectacular composite image combines observations using infrared light and X-ray light that 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 on the lower right-hand side of the image. Each telescope's contribution is presented in a different color. Yellow represents the near-infrared observations of Hubble. Red represents the infrared observations of Spitzer. Blue and violet represent the X-ray observations of Chandra.
[Bottom Left Frame] – Spitzer's infrared-light observations provide a detailed and spectacular view of the galactic center region. The swirling core of our galaxy harbors hundreds of thousands of stars that cannot be seen in visible light. These stars heat the nearby gas and dust. These dusty clouds glow in infrared light and reveal their often dramatic shapes. Some of these clouds harbor stellar nurseries that are forming new generations of stars. Like the downtown of a large city, the center of our galaxy is a crowded, active, and vibrant place.
[Bottom Middle Frame] – Although best known for its visible-light images, Hubble 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 massive stars. In addition, Hubble uncovered many more massive stars across the region. Winds and radiation from these stars create the complex structures seen in the gas throughout the image. This sweeping panorama is one of the sharpest infrared pictures ever made of the galactic center region.
[Bottom Right Frame] – X-rays detected by Chandra 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 objects. A supermassive black hole – some four million times more massive than the Sun – resides within the bright region in the lower right. The diffuse X-ray light comes from gas heated to millions of degrees by outflows from the supermassive black hole, winds from giant stars, and stellar explosions. This central region is the most energetic place in our galaxy.
Credits
NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Galactic Center |
| Object Description | Center of the Milky Way Galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 17h 45m 36.0s |
| Dec. Position | -28° 55' 58.8" |
| Constellation | Sagittarius |
| Distance | 26,000 light-years (8 kiloparsecs) |
| Dimensions | The composite image of the galactic center is 32.5 arcminutes (246 light-years or 75.5 parsecs) wide. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Spitzer Data (bottom-left): The Spitzer Space Telescope data were courtesy of NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and S. Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/California Institute of Technology). Hubble Data (bottom-center): The Hubble component was from the HST proposal : Q.D. Wang (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), S. Stolovy (Caltech), C. Lang (University of Iowa), A. Cotera (SETI Institute), M. Muno (Caltech), M. Morris (University of California, Los Angeles), D. Calzetti (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), S. Ramirez (Caltech), and G. Schneider (University of Arizona). Chandra Data (bottom-right): The science team was led by Q.D. Wang (University of Massachusetts, Amherst). Image courtesy of NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang et al. |
| Instrument | SST>IRAC, HST>NICMOS, and CXO>ACIS |
| Exposure Dates | September 3, 2004, and September 15, 2005 (SST), February 22 - June 5, 2008 (HST), and March 2000 - July 2007 (CXO) |
| Filters | SST: 3.6 microns, 4.5 microns, 5.8 microns, and 8.0 microns HST: F187N (Paschen-Alpha) and F190N (Paschen-Alpha continuum) CXO: 1-3 keV, 3-5 keV, 5-8 keV |
| About The Image | |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
