Check Out Our Gooey Galactic Center! A Mere 26,000 Light Years Ago.

Check out our gorgeous galactic center. It’s funny that NASA drops this image on us today, because last night I was marveling at the under-appreciated fact that we can see our galaxy in the sky if we gave a gander. Look around you, folks! Around you!

NASA:

From Sagittarius to Scorpius, the central Milky Way is a truly beautiful part of planet Earth’s night sky. The gorgeous region is captured in this wide field image spanning about 30 degrees. The impressive cosmic vista, taken in 2010, shows off intricate dust lanes, bright nebulae, and star clusters scattered through our galaxy’s rich central starfields. Starting on the left, look for the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae, the Cat’s Paw, while on the right lies the Pipe dark nebula, and the colorful clouds of Rho Ophiuchi and Antares (right). The actual center of our Galaxy lies about 26,000 light years away and can be found here.

No big deal. Just wilin’ out in the cosmos.