The enormous amount of dust between the stars of the Milky Way makes it especially difficult to see to the center of our galaxy. For every trillion optical photons emitted in the Galactic Center, only one makes it as far as the Sun. The other 999,999,999,999 are absorbed by dust. The Galactic Center lies in the same area of the sky as the constellation Sagittarius. In this wide-angle view, the Milky WayΓÇÖs central bulge appears as a blob of red-tinged light. Note that the bulge does not appear perfectly spherical; the light flattens into a disk. Also visible is the dark outline of the dust belt, similar to the belt of Centaurus A.
The Milky Way appears to have an active nucleus that produces prodigious amounts of energy. Although not as powerful as objects
