Radio Telescope Captures the Contemporary-Art-Like Heart of Milky Way Galaxy, Showcasing a Major Leap of Its Capabilities

In 2022, scientists shared an image from the MeerKAT radio telescope that shows a variety of cosmic phenomena. The stunning photo includes the outburst stars, stellar nurseries, and the chaotic region that surrounds Sagittarius A*.

But the most eye-catching of it all is what may look like a trippy Eye of Sauron or contemporary art of the detailed view of the heart of the Milky Way galaxy as seen in radio waves. The 4.3 million solar mass black hole at the galaxy's center is about 25,000 light-years away from Earth, which MeerKAT successfully photographed.

The Art at the Heart of the Milky Way Galaxy

During a three-year period and 200 hours of observation, scientists captured the art-like photo of the Milky Way's center using the MeerKat radio telescope in South Africa. As per Science News, it merges 20 distinct photos into a single mosaic, with the galactic plane's brilliant, star-studded plane running horizontally.

MeerKAT collected radio waves from a variety of cosmic riches, including supernovas, star nurseries, and the intense area surrounding the galaxy's supermassive black hole. One fluffy supernova remnant can be seen at the bottom right corner of the photo, while a supermassive black hole is visible in the center which serves as the brilliant orange "eye."

More so, the many wispy-looking radio filaments that slice largely vertically through the picture also look fascinating. These filaments were first discovered in the 1980s, and are formed by accelerated electrons gyrating in a magnetic field and emitting radio waves. However, scientists find it challenging to explain because there is no evident motor to propel the particles.

Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. found these filaments by chance when he was still a graduate student. But even he thinks these filaments were perplexing and remain a mystery until today.

MeerKAT's Display of Capabilities in Capturing Cosmic Phenomena

In the past, scientists only investigate filaments one at a time. But the MeerKAT radio telescope has revealed thousands of them that made their research possible. Their study, titled "The 1.28 GHz MeerKAT Galactic Center Mosaic" published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, discussed the strands and how they could help unveil mysteries in the galaxy.

Furthermore, Interesting Engineering reports that the massive cloud in the picture is a supernova remnant, while the brilliant light on the left is known as the "Mouse nebula" because of its similarity to the little rodent. The extraordinarily brilliant point is a pulsar moving at a few hundred kilometers per second, which explains the obvious trailing tail.

Study lead author Dr. Ian Heywood from the University of Oxford has spent a lot of time looking at the image to study and analyze it. He emphasized that radio imaging was not as good as this before and that MeerKAT's product is a major leap forward in terms of capabilities in photographing cosmic phenomena.

Overall, the image is a testament to the MeerKAT radio telescope's capabilities. The impressive image unlocked the beauty of the Milky Way galaxy that has been hidden until now.

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