CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 25, 2026 — A telescope in Chile has released a new image capturing the Milky Way galaxy’s core in unprecedented detail, focusing on swirling cold gas and dust around the galaxy’s supermassive black hole at the dead center. The European Southern Observatory released the picture Wednesday, using it to highlight a wide swath of star-forming material in the Milky Way’s center.
The image zeroes in on a region known as the Central Molecular Zone, where astronomers study how stars are born in one of the Milky Way’s most extreme environments. The European Southern Observatory said the view covers an area more than 650 light-years across, with the light-year described as nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).
ESO said the clouds of gas and dust in the Central Molecular Zone surround the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, placing the study of the galaxy’s densest central conditions at the center of the observation. By mapping that material, researchers aim to understand how the Milky Way’s central region works and how such regions fit into wider questions about how galaxies evolve.
The European Southern Observatory also tied the new image to the observing capabilities of ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, a network of antennas in Chile’s Atacama Desert. ESO said the picture is the largest image ever taken by the ALMA antenna network in the Atacama Desert, which is described as one of the driest places on Earth.
Survey leader Steve Longmore of Liverpool John Moores University said the observations can help astronomers better understand the processes of star formation in the Central Molecular Zone. Ashley Barnes, part of the research team, said the region is “a place of extremes, invisible to our eyes, but now revealed in extraordinary detail,” in a statement released with the image.