Topic: NASA's Great Observatories Celebrate International Year of Astronomy

[sam]

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/28/

A never-before-seen view of the turbulent heart of our Milky Way galaxy is being unveiled by NASA on Nov. 10. This event will commemorate the 400 years since Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609. In celebration of this International Year of Astronomy, NASA is releasing images of the galactic center region as seen by its Great Observatories to more than 150 planetariums, museums, nature centers, libraries, and schools across the country

[Simon]

Great pic - will look nice on my laptop. 

[sam]

I've got another one to consider too.. (made by colleagues of mine, well my new supervisor): A Majestic Gas Shell Revealed by the VLA.

http://images.nrao.edu/566

[Simon]

Yeah, that one's nice too, but I prefer the first one. 

[sam]

so do I but you didn't hear me say that.

[Simon]

Pardon?   

[Clive]

Stunning pictures Sam!  What a turbulent galaxy we live in!  It would be nice if they had identified some of the objects in the first picture.  Particuarly the bright star-like object to the left.  Is it an overexposed star, a globular or a satellite galaxy?  Is that the central black hole in the vortex left of centre?  Why didn't they do an overlay so we can tell what we are looking at?    

[sam]

Stunning pictures Sam!  What a turbulent galaxy we live in!  It would be nice if they had identified some of the objects in the first picture.  Particuarly the bright star-like object to the left.  Is it an overexposed star, a globular or a satellite galaxy?  Is that the central black hole in the vortex left of centre?  Why didn't they do an overlay so we can tell what we are looking at?    

Oh but they did: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/28/image/g/format/web_print/

- you should see some of the images we have in the radio - really shows how turbulent it is (I don't think they've been published yet though)

[Clive]

Incredible!  Thanks for that Sam.  It's a shame the black hole isn't below the Arches Cluster though because that would have looked sensational.  I can see now that the bright white-coloured objects are x-ray objects and that the central black hole is at Sagittarius A.  Makes sense now!