A Voyage to the Heart of the Milky Way [720p]

The massive Arches Cluster is a rather peculiar star cluster. It is located 25 000 light-years away towards the constellation of Sagittarius, and contains about a thousand young, massive stars, less than 2.5 million years old. It is an ideal laboratory to study how massive stars are born in extreme conditions as it is close to the center of our Milky Way, where it experiences huge opposing forces from the stars, gas and the supermassive black hole that reside there. The Arches Cluster is ten times heavier than typical young star clusters scattered throughout our Milky Way and is enriched with chemical elements heavier than helium.

In this zoom sequence we start with a view of the central parts of the Milky Way Galaxy and work inwards towards the Arches Cluster, buried deep beyond the dust clouds. At the last stage, we see the transition from visible to near-infrared observations, piercing through the clouds and revealing the stars of the Arches Cluster.

Music by John Dyson from the CD "Darklight."

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Milky Way
• Arches Cluster
• galaxy