Galaxies
Galactic Center Region in Near-Infrared from Hubble
November 10, 2009 · NASA · Sagittarius
Zoom to full resolution See where it is in the 3D sky Original on NASA ↗
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 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 the sharpest infrared picture ever made of the galactic center region.
About the data
The Hubble component was from the HST proposal 11120 : 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).
More Hubble images of Galactic Center
Milky Way Nuclear Star ClusterMarch 31, 2016
NASA’s Great Observatories Examine the Galactic Center Region (With Title)November 10, 2009NASA’s Great Observatories Examine the Galactic Center RegionNovember 10, 2009
NASA’s Great Observatories Present Unique Views of the Center of the Milky WayNovember 10, 2009Galactic Center Region in Infrared from SpitzerNovember 10, 2009
Galactic Center Region in X-rays from ChandraNovember 10, 2009
Views of the Galactic Center Region from NASA’s Great ObservatoriesNovember 10, 2009Hubble-Spitzer Color Mosaic of the Galactic CenterJanuary 5, 2009