The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is hidden from the prying eyes of optical telescopes by clouds of obscuring dust and gas.
But in this stunning vista, the Spitzer Space Telescope's href="http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/importance.html">infrared cameras, penetrate much of the dust revealing the stars of the crowded galactic center region.
A mosaic of many smaller snapshots, the detailed, false-color image shows older, cool stars in bluish hues.
Reddish glowing dust clouds are associated with young, hot stars in stellar nurseries.
