Cape Canaveral, Florida (AP) — NASA has unveiled an amazing new photo of our galaxy’s violent, super-energetic “downtown.”
This is a composite of 370 observations over the last 20 years by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, showing billions of stars and countless black holes in the center of the Milky Way. The South African radio telescope also contributed to the image for contrast.
Daniel Wang, an astronomer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said he spent a year studying the study while staying home during a pandemic on Friday.
“What we see in this photo is a violent and energetic ecosystem in the heart of our galaxy,” Wang said in an email. “There are many supernova remnants there. , Black holes, and neutron stars. Each X-ray point or feature represents an energy source, most of which is central. “
This vibrant, high-energy galactic center is 26,000 light-years away.
His work appears in the June issue of the Royal Astronomical Society’s monthly notice.
Launched in 1999, Chandra is in an extremely elliptical orbit around the Earth.
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