Mosaic of the galactic centre

Esahubble_opo0902b_1024

esahubble_opo0902b January 5th, 2009

Credit: NASA, ESA and Q.D. Wang (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope infrared mosaic image represents the sharpest survey of the galactic centre to date. It reveals a new population of massive stars and new details in complex structures in the hot ionized gas swirling around the central 300 x 115 light-years. This sweeping infrared panorama offers a nearby laboratory for how massive stars form and influence their environment in the often violent nuclear regions of other galaxies. The infrared mosaic was taken with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). The Galactic core is obscured in visible light by intervening dust clouds, but infrared light penetrates the dust. The spatial resolution of this image corresponds to 0.025 light-years at the distance of the Galactic core of 26 000 light-years. Hubble reveals details in objects as small as 20 times the size of our own Solar System.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0902b/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Milky Way
Subject - Milky Way
Galaxy > Component > Center/Core
Esahubble_opo0902b_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 17h 45m 30.1s
DEC = -28° 59’ 17.7”
Orientation
North is 58.6° CCW
Field of View
39.0 x 15.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (NICMOS) Infrared (Near-IR) -
Esahubble_opo0902b_1280
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ID
opo0902b
Subject Category
B.5.4.9  
Subject Name
Milky Way
Credits
NASA, ESA and Q.D. Wang (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Release Date
2009-01-05T19:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo0902b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
NICMOS
Color Assignment
Red
Band
Infrared
Bandpass
Near-IR
Central Wavelength
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
266.375302089, -28.9882482738
Reference Dimension
11700.0, 4500.0
Reference Pixel
5850.0, 2250.0
Scale
-5.55120631512e-05, 5.55120631512e-05
Rotation
58.559999999999967
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo0902b
Metadata Date
2019-10-07T11:41:02.987520
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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