Representation of the Milky Way during an active phase
Date: 29 August 2016
Satellite: XMM-Newton
Copyright: Mark A. Garlick/CfA
This artist's impression shows the Milky Way as it may have appeared 6 million years ago during a "quasar" phase of activity. A wispy orange bubble extends from the galactic centre out to a radius of about 20 000 light-years. Outside of that bubble, a pervasive "fog" of million-degree gas might account for the Galaxy's missing matter of 130 billion solar masses.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
