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These radio images show a rich variety of rings, loops and filaments over a region of about 100 light years across at the center of the Galaxy. The brightest feature in this image coincides with a massive black hole 2 million times heavier than the Sun. The long straight filaments running perpendicular to the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy. These filaments trace an organized magnetic field structures whose origin is still not understood. Optical radiation from the Galactic center region is completely absorbed by intervening dust and gas. The study of this region had to await the birth of radio Astronomy when Karl Jansky first reported the detection of radio emission from the Galactic center in 1933. The investigation of this region has generally been tied to the development of new techniques or new instrumentation because it is a strong radio and infrared source. In addition, its study provides a very useful bridging point between Galactic and extragalactic astronomy in the context of its activity. (Courtesy of National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array of radio telescopes)

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