NASA Releases Stunning New Pic of Milky Way’s ‘Downtown’

NASA Releases Stunning New Pic of Milky Way’s ‘Downtown’
This false-color X-ray and radio frequency image made available by NASA on 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
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—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.