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An astronomer spent a year working on image of Milky Way's 'downtown' while stuck at home during pandemic

An astronomer spent a year working on image of Milky Way's 'downtown' while stuck at home during pandemic
mm mm. Yeah. A supermassive black hole lies at the center of our galaxy, The Milky Way. It's a cosmic phenomenon four million times the size of the sun, creating an area of space with extreme gravitational and magnetic events meaning the area is obscured to the naked even telescope die despite only being 25,800 light years away. But now, with the help of both the chandra X ray Observatory space telescope and the meerkat radio telescope, astronomers have been able to capture this incredible image. It's a beautiful display of vibrant colors where orange, green, blue and purple areas represent X rays and other radio waves are shown as gray and lilac. But they also discovered another phenomenon hidden within our galactic center. This is G zero dot 17-0 0.0.41 It's a streak of gas 20 light years long and 200.2 light years wide. And it's a bit strange, experts believe it was created when two opposite lee aligned magnetic field lines smashed together and broke before connecting, rearranging the magnetic field and creating massive amounts of both kinetic and heat energy. In the process, at least, that's the only way they can explain why it's giving off X rays. Astronomers believe that studying this particular event could help them better understand the physics of magnetic reconnection and give them a better understanding of our own galactic center. Yeah.
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An astronomer spent a year working on image of Milky Way's 'downtown' while stuck at home during pandemic
NASA has released a stunning new picture of our galaxy's violent, super-energized "downtown."It's a composite of 370 observations over the past two decades by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, depicting billions of stars and countless black holes in the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa also contributed to the image, for contrast.Astronomer Daniel Wang of the University of Massachusetts Amherst said Friday he spent a year working on this while stuck at home during the pandemic. "What we see in the picture is a violent or energetic ecosystem in our galaxy's downtown," Wang said in an email. "There are a lot of supernova remnants, black holes, and neutron stars there. Each X-ray dot or feature represents an energetic source, most of which are in the center."This busy, high-energy galactic center is 26,000 light years away.His work appears in the June issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.Launched in 1999, Chandra is in an extreme oval orbit around Earth.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

NASA has released a stunning new picture of our galaxy's violent, super-energized "downtown."

It's a composite of 370 observations over the past two decades by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, depicting billions of stars and countless black holes in the center, or heart, of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa also contributed to the image, for contrast.

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Astronomer Daniel Wang of the University of Massachusetts Amherst said Friday he spent a year working on this while stuck at home during the pandemic.

"What we see in the picture is a violent or energetic ecosystem in our galaxy's downtown," Wang said in an email. "There are a lot of supernova remnants, black holes, and neutron stars there. Each X-ray dot or feature represents an energetic source, most of which are in the center."

This false-color X-ray and radio frequency image made available by NASA on Friday, May 28, 2021 shows threads of superheated gas and magnetic fields at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang, NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT via AP
This false-color X-ray and radio frequency image made available by NASA on Friday, May 28, 2021 shows threads of superheated gas and magnetic fields at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

This busy, high-energy galactic center is 26,000 light years away.

His work appears in the June issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Launched in 1999, Chandra is in an extreme oval orbit around Earth.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.