Galactic Center Star Clusters
Explanation:
If you had
x-ray
vision, the
central regions
of our Galaxy would not be hidden from
view by cosmic dust clouds.
Instead,
the
Milky Way
toward
Sagittarius might look something
like this.
Pleasing to look at, the gorgeous false-color representation of
x-ray data
from the Chandra Observatory shows
high energies in blue, medium in green,
and low
energy x-rays in red.
The
mosaic spans about 130 light-years at the 26,000 light-year
distance of the Galactic Center.
It reveals massive, x-ray emitting star clusters
in a crowded environment.
In particular,
the Galactic Center cluster and the enormous
black hole
Sagittarius A* are within the bright region near the
bottom.
Two other star clusters,
the Arches,
and the
Quintuplet
lie near the top.
Cluster interactions with dense molecular clouds in the region
may produce some of the diffuse emission detected in
the Chandra
x-ray view.
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.
