UF researchers help capture most detailed view yet of the Milky Way’s core

University of Florida astronomers helped create the largest and most detailed image ever made of the center of the Milky Way, giving scientists an unprecedented look at the raw material that forms new stars.

The image comes from the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey, or ACES, a global effort to map the dense clouds of gas that surround the Milky Way’s central black hole. UF astrophysicist Adam Ginsburg, Ph.D., co-led the team responsible for processing the massive dataset, supported by UF researchers and graduate students Nazar Budaiev, Alyssa Bulatek, Savannah Gramze and Desmond Jeff.

“UF led the processing of these data using the HiPerGator supercomputer, which was critical for handling the extremely large data cubes from the ALMA interferometer,” Ginsburg said. “The ACES program lets us measure where and how many new stars are forming in the galactic center and how gas is flowing into the center, feeding star formation and the growth of our black hole.”

The new view shows hundreds of light-years of tangled gas structures that cannot be seen with visible light. These clouds are the birthplace of stars, yet the center of the galaxy is an unusually intense environment.

“It is a place of extremes, invisible to our eyes but now revealed in extraordinary detail,” said Ashley Barnes of the European Southern Observatory, a co-leader of the project.

Scientists say the map will help them understand why the Milky Way’s center produces some of the most massive and short-lived stars in the galaxy. They also hope it will shed light on how galaxies in the early universe formed stars under similarly harsh conditions.

This is the first time ALMA has scanned such a large area, resulting in the biggest image ever produced by the observatory. The final mosaic covers a patch of sky as long as three full moons.