Milky Way galactic centre, infrared image. Combined Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) image of the stars and nebulae seen

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Milky Way galactic centre, infrared image. Combined Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) image of the stars and nebulae seen towards the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. It shows a population of massive stars and complex structures in the hot ionized gas. The galactic core is obscured in visible light by intervening dust clouds, but infrared light penetrates the dust. This region is located in the constellation of Sagittarius and is around 26,000 light years from Earth. The area seen here is around 300 light years across. This image was obtained in 2004, 2005 and 2008, using the HST's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) and the SST's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC).

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Size: 6149px × 2902px
Photo credit: © NASA/ESA/JPL/Q. D. WANG/S. STOLOVY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2004, 2005, 2008, array, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, black, camera, centre, combined, composite, energy, galactic, galaxy, high, hole, hst, hubble, image, infrared, ir, irac, milky, multiple, nebula, nebulae, nicmos, orange, region, sagittarius, space, spitzer, sst, star, stars, telescope, universe