University of Florida astronomers helped create the largest and most detailed image ever made of the center of the Milky Way, giving scientists an unprecedented look at the raw material that forms new stars.
The image comes from the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey, or ACES, a global effort to map the dense clouds of gas that surround the Milky Way’s central black hole. UF astrophysicist Adam Ginsburg, Ph.D., co-led the team responsible for processing the massive dataset, supported by UF researchers and graduate students Nazar Budaiev, Alyssa Bulatek, Savannah Gramze and Desmond Jeff.
“UF led the processing of these data using the HiPerGator supercomputer, which was critical for handling the extremely large data cubes from the ALMA interferometer,” Ginsburg said. “The ACES program lets us measure where and how many new stars are forming in the galactic center and how gas is flowing into the center, feeding star formation and the growth of our black hole.”
