Chandra Release - February 1, 2001

Visual Description: Sagittarius A East

This Chandra X-ray Observatory image shows the area around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way, and Sagittarius A East, a supernova remnant. The image displays a bright, glowing object in the center, surrounded by smaller, fainter dots that appear to be scattered around it. The very bright orange hue of the central object is offset by slightly dimmer orange of the surrounding blobs and dots The central object appears much brighter and more prominent than the smaller dots. This Chandra image shows the relationship between the Sagittarius A* and Sagittarius A East, both of which are located in the center of our galaxy in the constellation Sagittarius. For the first time, astronomers were able to separate Sagittarius A East from other complex structures in the center of the Milky Way. The emission from Sagittarius A East is depicted by the bright yellow and orange tones in the middle of this image. From the Chandra image, scientists can clearly see that Sgr A East surrounds Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way's central black hole found near the white dots in the lower-right portion of the central object.