Chandra Discovers X-ray Source at the Center of Our Galaxy

Chandra_216_1024

chandra_216 January 14th, 2000

Credit: NASA/MIT/PSU

The image has been smoothed to bring out the X-ray emission from an extended cloud of hot gas surrounding the supermassive black-hole candidate Sagittarius A* (larger white dot at the very center of the image- a little to the left and above the smallest white dot). This gas glows in X-ray light because it has been heated to a temperature of millions of degrees by shock waves produced by supernova explosions and perhaps by colliding winds from young massive stars.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/0204/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

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Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Galactic Center

Distance Details Distance

Universescale1
26,000 light years
Chandra_216_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 17h 45m 40.0s
DEC = -29° 0’ 30.2”
Orientation
North is 0.7° CW
Field of View
1.2 x 1.2 arcminutes
Constellation
Sagittarius

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Orange
Chandra_216_1280
×
ID
216
Subject Category
Subject Name
Galactic Center
Credits
NASA/MIT/PSU
Release Date
2000-01-14
Lightyears
26,000
Redshift
26,000
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/0204/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra
Instrument
ACIS
Color Assignment
Orange
Band
X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray
Central Wavelength
0.8267
Start Time
1999-09-21T02:43:00
Integration Time
46510
Dataset ID
242
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
266.4167788, -29.0083970
Reference Dimension
2100.0, 2110.0
Reference Pixel
1051.0, 1056.0
Scale
9.66456e-06, 9.6645601e-06
Rotation
-0.69
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
0204_xray.tif
Resource URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/0204/0204_xray.tif
Related Resources
Metadata Date
2011-01-19
Metadata Version
1.2
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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Universescalefull
26,000 light years

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