True-Colour image of the Galactic Centre

A "true-colour" mosaic of the centre of our Galaxy taken in July 1999 through the near-infrared J, H, and K band filters (30 second exposures per filter). The image covers a region extending approximately 7.5'x4.5'. The figure clearly illustrates the vast number of stars visible towards the centre of the Milky Way. The dark patches scattered throughout the region represent areas of higher obscuration or "extinction" due to clouds of gas and dust (rather than patches where there are no stars!).

The UFTI image below is a much deeper image of a small region near the Galactic Centre itself. It shows the Galactic Centre "Quintuplet" stars; the 5 red sources in the centre are the classical quintuplet, the fainter red source just to the north is MGM5. The "Pistol" star - a mass-losing LBV - is the bright white star about 1/5th of the way up from the bottom of the frame, centrally placed.

Data courtesy of Ant Chrysostomou (University of Hertfordshire, UK) - top image- and Jean Chair (NASA-Ames) and Andy Adamson (JAC) - bottom image.