Details of the HAWK-I view of the Milky Way’s central region

This beautiful image of the Milky Way’s central region, taken with the HAWK-I instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows interesting features of this part of our galaxy. This image highlights the Nuclear Star Cluster (NSC) right in the centre and the Arches Cluster, the densest cluster of stars in the Milky Way. Other features include the Quintuplet cluster, which contains five prominent stars, and a region of ionised hydrogen gas (HII).

Credit:

ESO/Nogueras-Lara et al.

About the Image

Id:eso1920b
Type:Collage
Release date:16 December 2019, 17:00
Related releases:eso1920
Size:6152 x 3120 px

About the Object

Name:Milky Way Galactic Centre
Type:Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core
Category:Stars

Image Formats

Large JPEG
11.0 MB
Screensize JPEG
340.2 KB

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Colours & filters

BandWavelengthTelescope
Infrared
J
1.258 μmVery Large Telescope
HAWK-I
Infrared
H
1.62 μmVery Large Telescope
HAWK-I
Infrared
Ks
2.146 μmVery Large Telescope
HAWK-I