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Date Taken:

June 25, 2010

Photograph By:

Daniel Luong-Van, NSF

License Type:

Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

The picture is of our galactic center with a very weak aurora in the foreground. Scientists believe there is a super massive black hole at our galactic center. Infra-red astronomy indicates an extremely massive 3-4 million solar mass object at the center with intense radio output. The intense radio output of this object is best modeled by matter being ground up as it spirals towards a super massive object, creating two huge jets of extremely hot material. To the best of our knowledge, this object is best described as a black hole.

Associated Keywords

Astronomy, Astrophysics, Aurora, Aurora Australis, Black Hole, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0., Creative Commons, Dark, Galaxy, Milky Way, Night, NSF, Physics, Star, Time, Winter

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This photo is in the public domain.

Photos whose copyright has expired or were taken by government employees as part of their job duties are considered to be in the public domain. Public domain works are not subject to copyright laws. Anyone may download these photos and use them freely, even for commercial purposes.

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This photo is covered by a Creative Commons license. Please see the Usage and Submissions page for more information. Use of this photo requires the following:

(1.) The user must give appropriate credit to the photographer and the National Science Foundation (NSF) and provide a link to the Creative Commons license. (2.) Use of the photo must be for non-commercial purposes only. (3.) No derivative works may be made with the original photo without the explicit permission of the photographer.

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