Galactic Center

https://www.nrao.edu/archives/plugins/Dropbox/files/galactic_center_hi.jpg

Description

The Galactic Center and the surrounding Central Molecular Zone comprise the most active star formation region in the Milky Way. This 2 x 1 degree field was imaged at 20 cm (purple) with the NRAO Very Large Array, tracing H II regions that are illuminated by hot, massive stars, supernova remnants, and synchrotron emission. Emission at 1.1 mm (orange) was observed with the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and highlights cold (20-30 K) dust associated with molecular gas. Some of this material will form stars within in the next few million years; the remainder will be blown away. The diffuse cyan and colored star images are from the Spitzer Space Observatory's Infrared Array Camera. The cyan is primarily emission from stars, the point sources, and from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the diffuse component.

Creator

Legacy Astronomical Images

Rights

NRAO/AUI/NSF does not hold full copyright for this image. Contact the archivist for details.

Type

Legacy Astronomical Image

Object Name

Galactic Center

Investigators

Adam Ginsburg (Univ of Colorado - Boulder), John Bally (Univ of Colorado - Boulder), Farhad Yusef-Zadeh (Northwestern), Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey team, GLIMPSE II team

Telescope

Very Large Array (VLA)

Observation Date

2004-00-00

Type of Observation

continuum

Band

L

Wavelength

20 cm

Frequency

1.4 GHz

Center of Image

RA 17:46:57.000, Dec: 28:33:31.000

Field of View

2.000000 x 1.000000 degrees

Notes

Contact the archivist for a high resolution tif of this image.

Series

Galactic Sources Series

Unit

Star Forming Regions Unit

Citation

Legacy Astronomical Images, “Galactic Center,” NRAO/AUI Archives, accessed March 28, 2024, https://www.nrao.edu/archives/items/show/33484.