Way This image of the center of our galaxy was produced from observtons made by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite.

Milky way - This image of the center of our galaxy was produced from observtons made by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). The infrared telescope carried by IRAS sees through the dust and gas that obscures stars and other objects when viewed by optical telescopes. The bulge in the band is the center of the galaxy. The knots and blobs scattered along the band are giant clouds of interstellar gas and dust heated by nearby stars. Some are wrmed by newly formed stars in the surrounding cloud and some are heated by nearby massive, hot, blue stars tens of thousands of times brighter than our Sun.