Scientists have taken a closer look at the center of our galaxy with the help of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. They've gotten a new image of the Milky Way nuclear star cluster.
The center of our Milky Way galaxy is located about 27,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. This particular area is tightly packed with stars. In fact, it has about one million stars that are crammed together.
Peering at this dense cluster of stars can be somewhat difficult. This is largely because dust and gas obscure it from view. In this case, the new image shows a dense wave of stars that hides the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole due to the use of infrared imaging. This black hole goes by the name Sagittarius A*. It's about four million times the mass of our own sun, and forms a central part of our galaxy.
In this latest picture, you can see foreground stars that are closer to Earth. The red stars, however, are either behind dust or are imbedded in dust themselves.
While this supermassive black hole remains hidden, it's not the only piece of the galaxy that has remained out of sight. Thick clouds of dust in the galaxy's center hides numerous cosmic objects. This means that astronomers need to use Hubble's infrared vision in order to peer past the dust in order to get a better view of the objects beyond.
With the help of Hubble, the researchers not only can see the stars in this dense cluster, but can also measure the movements of these stars. What will that accomplish? It could allow scientists to learn about the properties of the nuclear star cluster. It may also allow scientists to figure out how this star cluster was formed in the first place.
The findings not only show a bit more about the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster, but may also tell them a bit more about the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. This nuclear cluster actually surrounds the black hole, so understanding the cluster may tell researchers about the black hole itself.
