This new X-ray image of the center of the Milky Way is dominated by the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A. The black hole and several massive young stars in the chaotic region are creating the surrounding haze of superheated gas that shows up beautifully in X-ray light.

In visible light, the gas and dust would hide the stars from sight, but the Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals new details, including mysterious structures called X-ray filaments (identified in the image to the right on either side of Sagittarius A). The filaments may be analogous to solar flares or could be magnetic structures of some sort.

An annotated version of the image above is available, as well as a high-resolution version and a flyby animation.

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