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A new, dynamic portrait of our Milky Way galaxy shows a frenzy of gas, charged particles and dust as seen by the European Space Agency Planck mission.

A contingent of stars and star-forming clouds was found jutting out from the Milky Way's Sagittarius Arm. The inset shows the size of the structure and distance from the Sun.

Images of the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are overlaid on a map of the surrounding galactic halo. The smaller structure is a wake created by the LMC's motion through this region.

This composite image comes from the ESA Planck shows a festive portrait of our Milky Way galaxy shows a mishmash of gas, charged particles and several types of dust.

In visible light, the bulk of our Milky Way galaxy stars are eclipsed behind thick clouds of galactic dust and gas. But to the infrared eyes of NASA Spitzer Space Telescope, distant stars and dust clouds shine with unparalleled clarity and color.

Our Milky Way is a dusty place. So dusty that we cannot see the center of the galaxy in visible light. Thanks to NASA Spitzer Space Telescope excellent resolution, the dusty features within the galactic center are seen in unprecedented detail.

More than 444,580 frames from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create this portrait of the raging star-formation occurring in the inner Milky Way.

More than 800,000 frames from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope were stitched together to create this infrared portrait of dust and stars radiating in the inner Milky Way.

Our Milky Way galaxy is ablaze with dust in this new all-sky map from Planck, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA contributions. The towers of fiery colors are actually dust in the galaxy and beyond that has been polarized.

This artist concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way. The galaxy two major arms can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms are less distinct and located between the major arms.

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