The Milky Way Galaxy viewed in the IR by Cobe -

Cobe views the Milky Way in the Infrared light

The Cobe satellite, whose primary mission was the investigation of

the Cosmic Background radiation, a relict of the universe’s violent origin,

the Big Bang, has obtained this image of the central region of our

Milky Way galaxy. As the obscurring dust clouds

within the spiral arms of our galaxy are far more transparent for the long

wavelengths IR radiation observed by Cobe, it has obtained a much clearer

image of the structure of our galaxy, exposing a prominent central bulge

and a very thin IR brilliant disk, where the interstellar clouds are

concentrated. Our galaxy clearly shows up as an edge-on spiral of type

Sb to Sbc (or maybe SBb to SBbc).

Last Modification: 3 Feb 14:40 MET