ALMA mosaic reveals Milky Way's chaotic center in unprecedented detail
A new, large mosaic image of the Milky Way’s center captured by the ALMA telescope array in the Chilean Atacama Desert reveals cold molecular gas across the Central Molecular Zone in unprecedented detail over a span of about 650 light-years, highlighting gas filaments and clouds around the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole. The image, produced by stitching many observations, is the largest ALMA image to date and offers insight into how stars form in extreme galactic centers, informing theories of galaxy growth and evolution. The study identifies complex chemistry across dozens of gas structures and foreshadows deeper studies with future upgrades like ALMA’s wideband sensitivity and ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope.
