Journey to the center of the Milky Way in this Hubble telescope video
Since its launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has taken Earthlings on a trip through the solar system and beyond thanks to its unprecedented views of the universe.
Now, a video produced using Hubble telescope data takes people on a voyage to the center of the Milky Way, straight through the largest cluster of stars in our galaxy.
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"Located 27,000 light-years away, this region is so packed with stars, it is equivalent to having a million suns crammed into the volume of space between us and our closest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light-years away," the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) said in the video description.
That gigantic cluster of stars circles the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, which is about 4 million times more massive than the sun, according to the STScI.
These images were taken using the Hubble's infrared camera, allowing it to cut through dust and putting the center of the galaxy on display.
The sun is actually in a different part of the Milky Way called the Orion Spur, which isn't terribly far from the galactic center but is still well outside of the nuclear cluster of stars seen in the video.
Scientists have used this Hubble data, collected over the course of four years, to learn more about the structure of the star cluster.
"The motion of the stars may also offer a glimpse into how the star cluster was formed -- whether it was built up over time by globular star clusters that happen to fall into the galaxy's center, or from gas spiraling in from the Milky Way's disk to form stars at the core," the STScI said.
The Hubble has been beaming back images from its location in orbit around the Earth for 26 years, and it is expected to continue functioning through at least 2020, according to some estimates.
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Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
