Abstract
Because the galactic centre lies behind approximately 27 magnitudes of visual extinction, observations at visible wavelengths are impossible. The recent introduction of charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to astronomy represents the first opportunity to use sensitive area detectors in the near IR. Using a cooled CCD, we have obtained an image of the galactic centre at an effective wavelength of 0.9 µm. Two unresolved sources were found, separated by 3 arc s along the galactic plane. The detection of the two sources was confirmed by a further observation the following night. The possibility that the new sources are foreground objects cannot be completely ruled out; however, their positions are remarkably close to those of the non-thermal radio source and the 2.2 µm source IRS-16. While it is possible that the new sources could be a pair of highly reddened individual stars or compact clusters, it seems more likely that they are two compact H II regions seen in line emission.
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Storey, J., Straede, J., Jorden, P. et al. A CCD image of the galactic centre. Nature 296, 333–334 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296333a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/296333a0
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