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Collection:
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NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Collection
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope Collection
Collection
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Title:
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The Milky Way Center Aglow with Dust
Title
The Milky Way Center Aglow with Dust
Title
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Description:
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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.
Taken with just one of Spitzer's cameras (at a wavelength of 8 microns), the image highlights the region's exceptionally bright and dusty clouds, lit up by young massive stars. Individual stars can also be seen as tiny dots scattered throughout the dust. The top mosaic shows a portion of the galactic center that stretches across a distance of 760 light-years.
Thanks to Spitzer's excellent resolution, the dusty features within the galactic center are seen in unprecedented detail. Four examples are shown in the magnified insets at the bottom. The farthest left box shows a pair of star-forming regions resembling owl-like cosmic eyes. To the left of the "eyes," dark lanes of dust can be seen. This object is probably located in a spiral arm between Earth and the galactic center, in contrast to the following examples, which are all located at the galactic center.
The next inset to the right includes the extremely luminous "Quintuplet" stars, a set of five massive stars believed to have buried themselves in cocoons of dust. Just below and to the right of the Quintuplet is the "Pistol" nebula, a bubble of ejected material from the central, massive Pistol star. The finger-like pillars to the left are part of a structure known as "Sickle." They are similar in size and shape to those in the famous picture of the Eagle Nebula taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Pillars like these are sculpted out of dense dust clouds by radiation and winds from hot stars. The pillars in the Sickle were likely to have been formed by a cluster of hot stars located to their right but not readily visible here.
The third inset highlights a system of long, stringy structures that are seen for the first time near the base of a region known as the "Arched Filaments." These long filaments are about 10 light-years long and less than 1 light-year wide. The bright star-forming regions to the right are some of the brightest in the infrared sky.
The final inset to the right shows the center of our galaxy, which is the brightest spot in the entire mosaic. The brightness is a result of dust being heated up by a compact cluster of hot stars. The bright spot also marks the location of a supermassive black hole, around which a rotating ring of gas and dust known as the circumnuclear disk can be seen.
This image was taken with Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), using its 8-micron detector. It shows emissions from heated-up molecules in dust clouds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Description
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.
Taken with just one of Spitzer's cameras (at a wavelength of 8 microns), the image highlights the region's exceptionally bright and dusty clouds, lit up by young massive stars. Individual stars can also be seen as tiny dots scattered throughout the dust. The top mosaic shows a portion of the galactic center that stretches across a distance of 760 light-years.
Thanks to Spitzer's excellent resolution, the dusty features within the galactic center are seen in unprecedented detail. Four examples are shown in the magnified insets at the bottom. The farthest left box shows a pair of star-forming regions resembling owl-like cosmic eyes. To the left of the "eyes," dark lanes of dust can be seen. This object is probably located in a spiral arm between Earth and the galactic center, in contrast to the following examples, which are all located at the galactic center.
The next inset to the right includes the extremely luminous "Quintuplet" stars, a set of five massive stars believed to have buried themselves in cocoons of dust. Just below and to the right of the Quintuplet is the "Pistol" nebula, a bubble of ejected material from the central, massive Pistol star. The finger-like pillars to the left are part of a structure known as "Sickle." They are similar in size and shape to those in the famous picture of the Eagle Nebula taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Pillars like these are sculpted out of dense dust clouds by radiation and winds from hot stars. The pillars in the Sickle were likely to have been formed by a cluster of hot stars located to their right but not readily visible here.
The third inset highlights a system of long, stringy structures that are seen for the first time near the base of a region known as the "Arched Filaments." These long filaments are about 10 light-years long and less than 1 light-year wide. The bright star-forming regions to the right are some of the brightest in the infrared sky.
The final inset to the right shows the center of our galaxy, which is the brightest spot in the entire mosaic. The brightness is a result of dust being heated up by a compact cluster of hot stars. The bright spot also marks the location of a supermassive black hole, around which a rotating ring of gas and dust known as the circumnuclear disk can be seen.
This image was taken with Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), using its 8-micron detector. It shows emissions from heated-up molecules in dust clouds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Description
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Release Date:
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2006/01/10
Release_Date
2006/01/10
Release Date
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Press Release:
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Press_Release
Press Release
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Release Credit:
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech)
Release_Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech)
Release Credit
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Image Credit:
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NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/ Caltech)
Image_Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/ Caltech)
Image Credit
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Object name:
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Galactic Center
Object_name
Galactic Center
Object name
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Object type:
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Spiral galaxy
Object_type
Spiral galaxy
Object type
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Position (J2000):
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*Galactic latitude: *0.0 *Galactic longitude: *0.0
Position_(J2000)
*Galactic latitude: *0.0 *Galactic longitude: *0.0
Position (J2000)
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Distance:
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26,000 light-years
Distance
26,000 light-years
Distance
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Constellation:
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Sagittarius
Constellation
Sagittarius
Constellation
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Wavelength:
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8.0 microns
Wavelength
8.0 microns
Wavelength
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Image scale:
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1.9x1.4 degrees
Image_scale
1.9x1.4 degrees
Image scale
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Observers:
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Susan Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/Caltech)
Solange Ramirez (IPAC)
Rick G. Arendt (SSAI/GSFC)
Dan Gezari (GSFC)
Casey Law (Northwestern University)
Angela Cotera (SETI)
Jennifer Karr (Academia Sinica)
Farhad Yusef-Zadeh (Northwestern University)
Harvey Moseley (GSFC)
Kris Sellgren (OSU)
Howard A. Smith (CfA)
Randall Smith (JHU)
Observers
Susan Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/Caltech)
Solange Ramirez (IPAC)
Rick G. Arendt (SSAI/GSFC)
Dan Gezari (GSFC)
Casey Law (Northwestern University)
Angela Cotera (SETI)
Jennifer Karr (Academia Sinica)
Farhad Yusef-Zadeh (Northwestern University)
Harvey Moseley (GSFC)
Kris Sellgren (OSU)
Howard A. Smith (CfA)
Randall Smith (JHU)
Observers
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Instrument:
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IRAC
Instrument
IRAC
Instrument
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Exposure Date:
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Sept 3, 2004 and Sept 15, 2005
Exposure_Date
Sept 3, 2004 and Sept 15, 2005
Exposure Date
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Exposure Time:
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10 seconds per position
Exposure_Time
10 seconds per position
Exposure Time
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Orientation:
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galactic north is up, galactic east is to the left
Orientation
galactic north is up, galactic east is to the left
Orientation
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note:
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*Unpackaged, full-resolution image* Screen-Resolution (450x325): JPEG [ http://ipac.jpl.nas…ssc2006-02b1_small.j pg ] High-Resolution (7002x5050): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech)
note
*Unpackaged, full-resolution image* Screen-Resolution (450x325): JPEG [ http://ipac.jpl.nas…ssc2006-02b1_small.j pg ] High-Resolution (7002x5050): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech) note
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facet_what:
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Spitzer Space Telescope
facet_what
Spitzer Space Telescope
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Earth
facet_what
Earth
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Visible Light
facet_what
Visible Light
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Sagittarius
facet_what
Sagittarius
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
facet_what
Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Stennis Space Center (SSC)
facet_where
Stennis Space Center (SSC)
facet_where
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facet_when:
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Sept 3, 2004
facet_when
Sept 3, 2004
facet_when
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facet_when:
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Sept 15, 2005
facet_when
Sept 15, 2005
facet_when
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facet_when_year:
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2005
facet_when_year
2005
facet_when_year
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facet_when_year:
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2004
facet_when_year
2004
facet_when_year
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Image #:
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ssc2006-02b
Image_#
ssc2006-02b
Image #
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original url:
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original_url
original url
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UID:
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SPD-SPITZ-ssc2006-02 b
UID
SPD-SPITZ-ssc2006-02 b
UID
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