High-Energy X-rays Fill Center of our Galaxy
April 29th, 2015
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This picture from NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, NuSTAR, shows the very center of our Milky Way galaxy. The intense light near the center of the X-ray picture is coming from a spinning dead star, called a pulsar, which is near our galaxy's central supermassive black hole. While the pulsar's X-ray emissions were known before, scientists were surprised to find more high-energy X-rays than predicted in the surrounding regions, seen here as the elliptical haze.

Astronomers aren't sure what the sources of the extra X-rays are, but one possibility is a population of dead stars.

The NuSTAR image has an X-ray energy range of 20 to 40 kiloelectron volts.

Observation

About the Object

Name
Milky WayGalactic Center
Type
Galaxy > Component > Center/Core
Distance
26,000 Light Years

Color Mapping

Band Wavelength Telescope
X-ray 30.0 keV NuSTAR

Astrometrics

Position (2000)
RA = 17h 45m 39.8s
Dec = -29° 0' 27.4"
Field of View
12.3 x 12.3 arcminutes
Orientation
North is 54.0° left of vertical