# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DDzsR0AJsy1
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/25609271-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/legacy-do/60737528fde46956ca61ccb1dac71cd2e1566585fdf837764702e339849676f7.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-12-20T16:57:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Swipe to see a cosmic candy cane at the center of our galaxy that’s a thousand trillion miles long!⁣
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Scientists using a NASAGoddard-built instrument with a radio telescope in Spain spied this structure near our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole. While it’s not edible, it’s chock-full of treats like the materials for making stars.⁣
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The full image shows our galaxy’s center in infrared (blue), radio ( red ), and microwave (“minty” green). This image color codes different ways light is produced. The blue and cyan regions show us cool dust where star formation has just begun. Yellow features show more established star “factories.” Red reveals places where electrically charged gas interacts with magnetic fields.⁣
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Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center⁣
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Image description: Three panels form this panoramic view of the center of our Milky Way galaxy from the GISMO instrument, which shows a collection of giant molecular clouds, raw material for making tens of millions of stars. Wisps of blue and cyan spanning the width of the image reveal cold dust where star formation is just getting started. A few yellow-glowing spots show the locations of active star factories. At the center of the image, in the second panel, is a gigantic hooked structure that resembles a candy cane glowing in shades of red and yellow. To its right is a bright red dot showing the location of Sagittarius A, the bright source at the galaxy’s center that hosts its supermassive black hole.⁣
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#CandyCane #MilkyWay #Dust #Stars #HappyHolidays

## Stats

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- **Likes:** 295,307
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## Tags

happyholidays, candycane, dust, milkyway, stars

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