Galactic Center in Infrared Essay

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Galactic Photo

This image is of the galactic center, which is the center of the Milky Way. The photograph is taken using infrared light, which changes the appearance of dust particles so that they do not obscure the image. As Wright (2003) points out, the universe is filled with dust, which tends to block the light being emitted from light-giving objects like stars. The composition of most galactic dust includes carbon, silicon, and oxygen (Wright, 2003). The dust can grow in molecular clouds, and are created in the atmosphere of red-giant stars that are cooling off (Nemiroff & Bonnell, 2006).

Infrared allows the exposure of rays that are beyond what the naked eye can see. These rays are beyond or below the red part of the color spectrum, which is why the technology is called "infrared." Below infrared rays are microwave and radio waves. Although not visible to the human eye, rays in the infrared spectrum are "reflected, refracted, absorbed and transmitted just like visible light," and can therefore be captured by special cameras, lenses, or filters ("Discovery of Infrared," n.d.). Used in this photograph, infrared photography allows for the capture of the galactic center and additional elements like the diagonal dust lane, which is the galactic plane (Nemiroff & Bonnell, 2006).

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This is the plane of the sun's orbit. The other suns in the galaxy likewise have their own orbital planes, and some of them even share the same orbital plane (Cain, 2014).

Research by Ghez shows that there is indeed a "supermassive" black hole at the center of the galaxy, although this is not picked up by the infrared camera (Cain, 2014). What the camera does pick up, though, is the visible business that is characteristic of the galactic center. Ghez describes the center of the galaxy as an "extreme" place with "stars zooming around," (cited by Cain, 2014). The photograph captures the business at the galactic center, as the image appears to show trillions of stars in addition to the luminous glow at the center.

The galactic center is about 30,000 light years away, making this photo as close as most people will get to seeing it. Although many black holes are believed to be surrounded by clusters of old stars and few new stars, the Milky Way black hole is unique in that new stars have been forming there and there is not an overabundance of….....

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