#NASA releases stunning image of Milky Way’s ‘downtown’

The lights are much brighter in this “downtown.”

NASA has released a stunning composite image of the Milky Way assembled by an astronomer who spent a year putting it together while stuck at home during the pandemic.

Astronomer Daniel Wang of the University of Massachusetts Amherst told the AP Friday that the picture is “a violent or energetic ecosystem in our galaxy’s downtown” — complete with remnants of supernovas, black holes and neutron stars.

The photo was compiled from 370 observations over the past 20 years by the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory, showing billions of stars in the heart of the Milky Way. A radio telescope in South Africa also contributed to the image, according to the AP.