                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2025 April 14
     The featured image shows the very center of our Milky Way Galaxy as
    resolved by the MeerKAT array in radio light. Many supernova remnants
   and unusual filaments are visible. At the upper right is an inset image
   of a small region taken in infrared by JWST. Please see the explanation
                       for more detailed information.

                  The Galactic Center in Radio from MeerKAT
    Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, S. Crowe (UVA), J. Bally
              (CU), R. Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), I. Heywood (Oxford)

   Explanation: What's happening at the center of our galaxy? It's hard to
   tell with optical telescopes since visible light is blocked by
   intervening interstellar dust. In other bands of light, though, such as
   radio, the galactic center can be imaged and shows itself to be quite
   an interesting and active place. The featured picture shows an image of
   our Milky Way's center by the MeerKAT array of 64 radio dishes in South
   Africa. Spanning four times the angular size of the Moon (2 degrees),
   the image is impressively vast, deep, and detailed. Many known sources
   are shown in clear detail, including many with a prefix of Sgr, since
   the galactic center is in the direction of the constellation
   Sagittarius. In our galaxy's center lies Sgr A, found here in the image
   center, which houses the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole.
   Other sources in the image are not as well understood, including the
   Arc, just to the left of Sgr A, and numerous filamentary threads. The
   inset image shows a small patch recently imaged in infrared light with
   the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate the effects of magnetic
   fields on star formation.

      Open Science: Browse 3,600+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
                                   Library
                      Tomorrow's picture: star cylinder
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

