Astronomy Picture of the Day

Good morning RP. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "The Galactic Center in Radio from MeerKAT." MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Northern Cape of South Africa. A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to receive radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Why radio? Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. They range from the length of a football to larger than our planet. Astronomical objects that have a changing magnetic field can produce radio waves. By studying the radio waves originating from these sources, we learn about their composition, structure, and motion.

Back to today's image (mouse over the image from the APOD site to see the labeled features). The prefix Sgr indicates these features lie in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius (the center of the Milky Way). Sgr A houses the galaxy's central black hole. Sgr B1, Sgr B2, Sgr C, and Sgr D SNR (Super Nova Remnant) are all part of the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), and contain compounds such as carbon monoxide, methanol, isocyanic acid, hydrogen cyanide and silicon monoxide. Bonus exercise: spend some free search time on The Arc and plasma. Creation is still unfolding before us.