May - Peering through the dust

This image shows an infrared view of Sagittarius B1, a region close to the centre of the Milky Way. The centre of our galaxy is an exotic environment, densely populated with stars, but our view is obscured by clouds of dust and gas, which block the visible light from the stars.

With infrared instruments, however, it is possible to peer through these clouds. In this image, taken with the infrared HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s VLT, we get to take a closer look at this region, unveiling a myriad of stars.