Zoom on the galactic centre

This video sequence starts from a wide field view of the Milky Way and closes near the galactic centre. Here astronomers using the VISTA infrared survey telescope discovered several ancient stars, of a type known as RR Lyrae. RR Lyrae stars typically reside in ancient stellar populations over 10 billion years old. Their discovery suggests that the bulging centre of the Milky Way likely grew through the merging of primordial star clusters. More information and download options: