Gemini North Images Bow Shock Near Galactic Center
What's going on near the center of our Galaxy? Glowing across the electromagnetic spectrum , the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is thought to be home to massive stars, rotating gas rings , and a massive black hole . Now the central Galactic zoo just got larger. The 8-meter Gemini North telescope in Hawaii in its first scientific observation has just imaged the Galactic Center and revealed a star only three light years out colliding with gas and dust . The bow shock , similar to that caused by a boat moving through water, appears arrow-shaped and is visible on the upper right of the above photograph taken in representative infrared colors. Gemini 's new flexible-mirror technology has imaged this structure , known as IRS8 , in finer detail than ever before.