X-Ray Mosaic Of Galactic Center:
Chandra Takes In The Bright Lights, Big City Of The
Milky Way
This 400 by 900 light-year mosaic
of several Chandra images of the central region of our
Milky Way galaxy reveals hundreds of white dwarf stars,
neutron stars, and black holes bathed in an
incandescent fog of multimillion-degree gas. The
supermassive black hole at the center of the Galaxy is
located inside the bright white patch in the center of
the image. The colors indicate X-ray energy bands - red
(low), green (medium), and blue (high).
The mosaic gives a new perspective on how the turbulent Galactic Center region affects the evolution of the Galaxy as a whole. This hot gas appears to be escaping from the center into the rest of the Galaxy. The outflow of gas,
chemically enriched from the frequent destruction of
stars, will distribute these elements into the galactic
suburbs. Because it is only about 26,000 light years
from Earth, the center of our Galaxy provides an
excellent laboratory to learn about the cores of other
galaxies.
|
Fast Facts for Galactic
Center (Survey):
|
|
Credit
|
NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al.
|
|
Scale
|
Image is 120 by 48 arcmin
|
|
Category
|
Normal
Galaxies & Starburst Galaxies
Milky Way |
|
Coordinates
(J2000)
|
RA 17h 45m 23s | Dec -29º 01'
17"
|
|
Constellation
|
Sagittarius
|
|
Observation
Date
|
July 2001 (30 separate pointings)
|
|
Observation
Time
|
94.2 hours total
|
|
Obs.
ID
|
2267 through 2296
|
|
Color
Code
|
Energy
|
|
Instrument
|
ACIS
|
|
Reference
|
Q.D. Wang et al. Nature, 415, 148, (2002)
|
|
Distance Estimate
|
About 26,000 light years
|
|
Release Date
|
January 09, 2002
|
|
|
