Jon Zink

ALT Maps of the Milky Way at ten wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays, and a finder diagram are shown on a colorful poster headlined Multiwavelength Milky Way. A short paragraph next to each map explains how the observation was made, and what the measurements tell us about the Milky Way.

ALT An infrared view of the center of our Milky Way galaxy reveals hundreds of thousands of bright stars and cloudy material bathed in a red glow. In this false-color picture, old and cool stars are blue, while dust features lit up by blazing hot, massive stars are shown in a reddish hue. Both bright and dark filamentary clouds can be seen, many of which harbor stellar nurseries. The plane of the Milky Way's flat disk is apparent as the main, horizontal band of clouds. The brightest white spot in the middle is the very center of the galaxy, which also marks the site of a supermassive black hole.