Chandra Release - May 9, 2018

Visual Description: Sagittarius A* Swarm

The image is an X-ray view of the Galactic Center, showcasing the area around a black hole. The dominant colors in the image are blue-purple, with bright dots of white or lighter purple visible throughout. The structure of the image is textured, and resembles two croissants smooshed together. The Galactic Center is the central region of the Milky Way galaxy, located about 26,000 light-years away from Earth. It is home to a supermassive black hole surrounded by a large cluster of stars, gas, and dust, making it a bright object in the sky at X-ray wavelengths.