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Galactic Center

The Galactic Center is the rotational center of the Milky Way galaxy, located approximately 25,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. It is a densely populated region containing a supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A*, surrounded by a high concentration of stars, gas, and dust.

Source: nasa.gov

APODs including "Galactic Center"

NGC 1818: A Young Globular Cluster

07/03/1998

NGC 1818: A Young Globular Cluster
Image Credit: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Globular clusters once ruled the Milky Way. Back in the old days, back when our Galaxy first formed, perhaps thousands of globular clusters roamed our Galaxy. Today, there are perhaps 200 left. Many globular clusters were destroyed over the eons by repeated fateful encounters with each other or the Galactic center. Surviving relics are older than any earth fossil, older than any other structures in our Galaxy, and limit the universe itself in raw age. There are few, if any, young globular clusters in our Milky Way Galaxy because conditions are not ripe for more to form. But things are different next door - in the neighboring LMC galaxy. Pictured above is a "young" globular cluster residing there: NGC 1818. Recent observations show it formed only about 40 million years ago - just yesterday compared to the 12 billion year ages of globular clusters in our own Milky Way