ALMA Produces Largest and Most Detailed Image Ever Taken of Milky Way’s Center

Thanks to the record-breaking image from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have mapped the molecular heart of our Milky Way in breathtaking detail.

This image shows the complex distribution of molecular gases in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. Image credit: ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/Longmore and others. /Minniti and others.

“It is a place of extremes, invisible to our eyes, but now revealed in extraordinary detail,” said Dr Ashley Barnes, an astronomer at ESO.

As part of the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey (ACES), Dr. Barnes and colleagues mapped more than 650 light years across the Core Molecular Zone, the extreme environment surrounding our Galaxy’s supermassive black hole.

By detecting dozens of molecules, from simple silicon compounds to complex organic species, this study provides the most comprehensive view to date of the cold gas that fuels star formation in this turbulent region.

“It’s the only galactic core close enough to Earth that we can study it in such detail,” Dr Barnes said.

“We expected a high level of detail when designing the survey, but we were truly surprised by the complexity and richness revealed by the final mosaic,” said Dr Katharina Immer, ALMA astronomer at ESO.

The dataset reveals the core molecular zone like never before, from gas structures tens of light years away to small gas clouds around individual stars.

“The Central Molecular Zone is home to some of the most massive stars known in our Galaxy, many of which live fast and die young, ending their lives in powerful supernova and even hypernova explosions,” says Professor Steve Longmore, an astrophysicist at Liverpool John Moores University and director of ACES.

With ACES, astronomers hope to better understand how these phenomena influence star birth and whether our theories on star formation are valid in extreme environments.

“By studying how stars are born in the central molecular zone, we can also get a clearer idea of ​​how galaxies grew and evolved,” Professor Longmore said.

“We think the region shares many characteristics with galaxies in the early Universe, where stars formed in chaotic and extreme environments.”

The new ACES results appear in a series of articles in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.