Have you ever wondered how our own galaxy, Milky Way, looks like? On a dark night, one can make out a swatch of shimmering cloud like Milky Way go across the sky. But, we can’t see the center of the galaxy which is supposedly dense with stars and should be very bright. Our view of the center is obscured by clouds of gas and dust that is part of our galaxy. The image above is a mosaic of photos showing the center of the Milky Way, taken by Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared cameras. Click here for a higher resolution photo. The galactic center lies towards the constellation, Sagittarius and is about 26,000 light years away. We, in our solar system, truly live on the outer fringes of the galaxy.

Just think about it… Even at the speed of light, it will take us a lot more time than the period of documented human history on Earth, to reach the center of our own galaxy. There are many many billions of such galaxies in the Universe. Feel insignificant? Good. Remember that feeling next time you agonize and cry about your small little problems.

via, APOD