Flying observatory SOFIA expanding frontiers in solar system and beyond

16 November 2016 Astronomy Now



Unravelling the Milky Way’s Central Molecular Zone

29 February 2016 Astronomy Now

Surrounding the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy and stretching out to about 700 light-years, is a dense zone of activity called the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ). It contains many dense molecular clouds that would normally be expected to produce new stars, but which are instead eerily desolate. Where did the CMZ come from? No place else in the Milky Way is remotely like it.