THE UNIVERSE
The centre of our Galaxy
as seen from observations
made by the Infra-Red
Astronomical Satellite
(IRAS). The infra-red
telescope carried by IRAS
sees through the dust and
gas that obscures stars and
other objects when viewed
by optical telescopes. The
bulge in the band is the
centre of the Galaxy. The
yellow and green knots and
blobs scattered along the
band are giant clouds of
interstellar gas and dust
heated by nearby stars.
Some are warmed by
newly formed stars in the
surrounding cloud, and
some are heated by nearby
massive, hot, blue stars
tens of thousands of times
brighter than our Sun.Centre of our Galaxy,
in an image obtained by
the VLT Yepun telescope in- The two small arrows
in the centre of the picture
mark the position of
Sagittarius A*. The colour
of the stars in this image is
related to their temperature,
with the blue ones being
hotter than the red.
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