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 that 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.
