                        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 November 18

                  The Galactic Plane: Radio Versus Visible
     Image Credit: Radio: S. Mantovanini & the GLEAM team; Visible: Axel
                         Mellinger (milkywaysky.com)

   Explanation: What does the Milky Way look like in radio waves? To
   better find out, GLEAM surveyed the central band of our galaxy in high
   resolution radio light as imaged by the Murchison Widefield Array in
   Australia. As the featured video slowly scrolls, radio light (71 - 231
   MHz) is seen on the left and visible light -- from the same field -- on
   the right. Differences are so great because most objects glow
   differently in radio and visible light, and because visible light is
   stopped by nearby interstellar dust. These differences are particularly
   apparent in the direction toward the center of our galaxy, seen about a
   third of the way through. Among the many features that appear in the
   radio, bright red patches are usually supernova remnants of exploded
   stars, while areas colored blue are stellar nurseries filled with
   bright young stars.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

