One million stars — towards the dark heart of the Milky Way*

With this remarkable VISTA mosaic we look deep into the dusty heart of our own Milky Way galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). About one million stars are revealed in this picture, most of them not seen in visible light pictures. As well as absorbing light, the dust also scatters blue light from the distant stars and makes the central part of this huge starscape appear very red. This image is a mosaic created from VISTA images taken through Y, J and Ks filters in the near-infrared part of the spectrum. The image is about 2 degrees by 1.5 degrees in extent. The total exposure time for this mosaic was only 80 seconds.

This image is available as a mounted image in the ESOshop

#L

Credit:

ESO/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso0949b
Type:Observatie
Publicatiedatum:11 december 2009 11:30
Gerelateerde berichten:eso0949
Grootte:24245 x 15566 px

Over het object

Naam:Galactic Centre
Type:Milky Way : Galaxy
Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core
Milky Way : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Milky Way
Afstand:25000 lichtjaren
Constellation:Sagittarius
Categorie:Stars

Mounted Image

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Coordinates

Position (RA):17 44 51.88
Position (Dec):-29° 25' 52.32"
Field of view:137.92 x 88.55 arcminutes
Orientation:North is 31.5° right of vertical