Why isnt the Center of OUR galaxy visible by Naked Eye?

I Know it must have been asked many times, but I cant find the FAQ or info
on this.

There us a great mass of stars at the center of our galaxy, and we cant see
them, though we can see whol galaxies many light years away from us.

How come?

Maybe the black hole has already gobbled them up and is on its way for us,
is one explanation, but I'd like others more clued up ;-)



toad

"to@d" to@d© wrote in message
...

There us a great mass of stars at the center of our galaxy, and we cant
see
them, though we can see whol galaxies many light years away from us.

How come?

http://homepages.win.co.nz/creation/milkywaycentre.html
http://www.star.le.ac.uk/edu/mway/

It's best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

Regards


Chris

Many thanks, knew there would be a good reason.

ends a long disscussion at work where many weird and wonderful theories have
been put forward. None worth printing here ;-)

toad

"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...

"to@d" to@d© wrote in message
...

There us a great mass of stars at the center of our galaxy, and we cant
see
them, though we can see whol galaxies many light years away from us.

How come?

http://homepages.win.co.nz/creation/milkywaycentre.html
http://www.star.le.ac.uk/edu/mway/

It's best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

Regards


Chris

"to@d" to@d© wrote:

I Know it must have been asked many times, but I cant find the FAQ or info
on this.

There us a great mass of stars at the center of our galaxy, and we cant see
them, though we can see whol galaxies many light years away from us.

How come?

We can, as Chris's links point out. It's perhaps not as bright and
concentrated as you may expect as we're pretty close (in
inter-galactic terms) so the core is fairly spread out from our
perspective. Being in the plane of the galaxy means there's a fair bit
of gas and dust between us and the centre of the galaxy too.


Tim
--
Don't tell me I'm still on that feckin' island!

"to@d" to@d© wrote in message
...
I Know it must have been asked many times, but I cant find the FAQ or info
on this.

There us a great mass of stars at the center of our galaxy, and we cant
see
them, though we can see whol galaxies many light years away from us.

How come?

Maybe the black hole has already gobbled them up and is on its way for us,
is one explanation, but I'd like others more clued up ;-)

We can't see the very centre of the Galaxy in visible light because there is
a lot of interstellar dust in the way (I seem to recall that the absorption
is around 19 magnitudes in V). Images that you have seen in magazines were
made using infrared, radio, or X-ray imaging, which are absorbed less by
dust.

There are "breaks in the clouds" allowing us to see stars in the galactic
bulge. The break nearest the direction of Sagittarius A is called "Baade's
Window."

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove "pants" spamblock to send e-mail)

That direction is best seen down south, but we still can't see it as there
is too much dust in the way. Longer (non-visible) wavelengths can penetrate
the dust and allow us to "see" it with radio wavelengths etc.

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

Are you interested in understanding optics?
Try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATM_Optics_Software/

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"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...

"to@d" to@d© wrote in message
...

There us a great mass of stars at the center of our galaxy, and we cant
see
them, though we can see whol galaxies many light years away from us.

How come?

http://homepages.win.co.nz/creation/milkywaycentre.html
http://www.star.le.ac.uk/edu/mway/

It's best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

Regards


Chris