Source: ESO Science Release eso1339
Artist's impression of the central bulge of the Milky Way.
Image credits: ESO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Kornmesser/R. Hurt.
Two groups of astronomers have used data from ESO telescopes to make the best three-dimensional map yet of the central parts of the Milky Way. They have found that the inner regions take on a peanut-like, or X-shaped, appearance from some angles. This odd shape was mapped by using public data from ESO’s VISTA survey telescope along with measurements of the motions of hundreds of very faint stars in the central bulge.(read more)
