This mosaic of X-ray images by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory represents a volume of space about 130 light years (40 parsecs) in diameter. It reveals the turbulent clouds of gas orbiting Sagittarius A*, the enormous rotating black hole that occupies the Milky Way's center of mass. The red clouds represent nebulae spiraling inward to the black hole's event horizon; its axis of rotation is oriented from the upper left to the lower right corner of the illustration. Interactions between the gases and the gravitational field release huge quantities of electromagnetic radiation, including X-rays.

This mosaic of infrared images illustrates a volume of space only 2 light years (0.6 parsecs) in diameter. It shows stars orbiting Sagittarius A*, whose position is indicated by the yellow arrows. The star clusters of the Galactic Core represent a mix of populations, including old stars that have expanded into red giants and massive young main sequence stars of spectral types O and B. See R. Schodel et al., "The possibility of detecting Sagittarius A* at 8.6 mu-m from sensitive imaging of the Galactic center," Astronomy & Astrophysics 462 (2007); and "The structure of the nuclear stellar cluster of the Milky Way," Astronomy & Astrophysics 469, 125-146 (2007).