GLIMPSE the Milky Way
16.12.2005

Scroll right and gaze through the dusty plane of our Milky Way Galaxy in infrared light. The cosmic panorama is courtesy of the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) project and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

The Galactic Center Across the Infrared
7.07.2002

The center of our Galaxy is obscured in visible light by dark dust that rotates with the stars in the Galactic Plane. In this century, however, sensors have been developed that can detect light more red that humans can see - light called infrared.

The Milky Way Near the Southern Cross
17.05.2007

The glow of the southern Milky Way and the well-known Southern Cross are featured in this colorful skyscape recorded in April over La Frontera, Chile. The Southern Cross (Crux) itself is at the right of the 20 degree wide field of view, topped by bright, yellowish star Gamma Crucis.

Heaven on Earth
6.11.2000

If sometimes it appears that the entire Milky Way Galaxy is raining down on your head, do not despair. It happens twice a day. As the Sun rises in the East, wonders of the night sky become less bright than the sunlight scattered by our own Earth's atmosphere, and so fade from view.

The Closest Galaxy: Canis Major Dwarf
4.11.2007

What is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way? The new answer to this old question is the Canis Major dwarf galaxy. For many years astronomers thought the Large Magellan Cloud (LMC) was closest, but its title was supplanted in 1994 by the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.

The Sagittarius Dwarf Tidal Stream
30.09.2003

Is our Milky Way Galaxy out to lunch? Recent wide field images and analyses now indicate that our home galaxy is actually still in the process of devouring its closest satellite neighbor. This unfortunate...

Sagittarius and the Central Milky Way
5.06.1996

What does the center of our Milky Way Galaxy look like? No one knows! It is not possible to see the Galactic center in light our eyes are sensitive to because the thick dust in the plane of our Galaxy obscures it.

The Frothy Milky Way
9.10.1999

Astronomers have discovered that looking at dust along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy is a bit like looking into a frothy glass of beer. The dust between stars in our galaxy appears...

Our Galaxy in Stars, Gas, and Dust
27.09.1999

The disk of our Milky Way Galaxy is home to hot nebulae, cold dust, and billions of stars. The red nebulae visible in the above contrast-enhanced picture are primarily emission nebulae, glowing clouds of hydrogen gas heated by nearby, bright, young stars.

La Silla s Starry Night
23.09.2004

On clear, moonless nights, the stars still come out with a vengance above the high-altitude La Silla astronomical observatory. Taking advantage of a recent visit to this first European Southern Observatory (ESO) site constructed on a mountain top in Chile, ESO software engineer Nico Housen recorded this stunning sky view.