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Sagittarius

Sagittarius is a constellation in the southern sky that lies in the direction of the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It is rich in deep-sky objects and is home to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s core.

Source: nasa.gov

APODs including "Sagittarius"

The Galactic Center in Infrared from 2MASS

30/05/2010

The Galactic Center in Infrared from 2MASS
Image Credit: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

The center of our Galaxy is a busy place. In visible light, much of the Galactic Center is obscured by opaque dust. In infrared light, however, dust glows more and obscures less, allowing nearly one million stars to be recorded in the above image. The Galactic Center itself appears glowing on the lower left and is located about 30,000 light years away towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The Galactic Plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, the plane in which the Sun orbits, is identifiable by the dark diagonal dust lane. The absorbing dust grains are created in the atmospheres of cool red-giant stars and grow in molecular clouds. The region directly surrounding the Galactic Center glows brightly in radio and high-energy radiation. The Galactic Center is thought to house a large black hole.