This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way,
This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way, or to imply the endorsement by ESO of any product, service or activity Nebulae orbiting the Milky Way's central black hole. The supermassive black hole (Sagittarius A*) at the centre of the Milky Way is circled in red at upper centre. The orbiting interstellar gas and dust nebulae (which are moving at high speeds) are imaged in radio and infrared. The radio data is from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and shows the presence of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in the hydrogen-rich gas clouds which are known as molecular cloudlets. The cloudlets are orbiting the black hole at a distance of about one light year. The image also includes infrared observations of neon obtained with the TEXES instrument on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). While the stars orbiting Sagittarius A* have been systematically observed, these dense molecular cloudlets have not been detected so close to the centre of our galaxy before. Image published in 2018.
Size: 2850px × 3154px
Photo credit: © ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/J. R. Goicoechea (Instituto de FÃÂsica Fundamental, CSIC, Spain)/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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