Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
Explanation:
In
Jules
Verne's science fiction classic
A Journey
to the Center of the Earth,
Professor Hardwigg and his fellow explorers
encounter many strange and exciting wonders.
What wonders lie at the
center of
our Galaxy?
Astronomers know of some of the bizarre objects which exist there,
like
vast cosmic dust clouds,
bright star clusters,
swirling rings of gas,
and even a
supermassive
black hole.
Much of the Galactic Center
is shielded from our view in visible light by the
intervening dust and gas,
but it can be explored using
other forms of
electromagnetic
radiation.
This haunting
wide angle image of the
Galactic Center region in infrared light was constructed
using data from the
Midcourse
Space Experiment (MSX) satellite.
The image maps three
mid-infrared bands, otherwise invisible
to human eyes, into visible blue, green, and red colors
revealing the thermal emission from dust clouds near the galactic
center that have been heated by starlight.
The galactic plane
runs along
the middle of this image while
the galactic center itself is the bright spot at picture center.
The field of view of this cropped picture is about 1.5 by 2.5 degrees.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
