Turn on desired wavelengths to add them to your image.
Choose a color for each wavelength.
Adjust the brightness of each wavelength to bring out your favorite details.
Choose the size you want and click "Generate".
Follow the instructions below to save the image to your device.
Cosmic Coloring Compositor
Create your own mobile phone background, desktop background or social media banner with our colorful compositor
To fully grasp the nature of the universe, astronomers study all wavelengths of light – what scientists call the electromagnetic spectrum. A few of these wavelengths can be seen with the human eye. The longest visible wavelength is red and the shortest is violet. Other common colors of the spectrum, in order of decreasing wavelength, may be remembered by the mnemonic: ROY G BIV.
Astronomers have produced spectacular, multi-wavelength images such as the Crab Nebula – the remains of a supernova explosion – by combining data from telescopes spanning nearly the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum, from the long radio waves seen by Very Large Array (VLA) to the shorter x-rays, on the opposite end of the spectrum, observed by NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
Discover many amazing details of the invisible universe by changing the wavelengths of radio, infrared, ultraviolet, and X-ray to colors your eyes can recognize!
Milky Way Galactic Center
Learn More...
One of the greatest objects of interest in modern astronomy are black holes. These fascinating gravitational phenomena come in a variety of masses and sizes, with the largest being known as supermassive black holes. Researchers currently believe that supermassive black holes lie at the center of most large galaxies; one such object lies in our own “backyard”, the center of our Milky Way, making it an ideal target for study.
In 1931, engineer Karl Jansky first observed a strong cosmic radio signal emanating from the constellation Sagittarius, which lies in the same direction in the sky as the center of our galaxy. Jansky surmised that the radio signals originated from the center of our galaxy, but didn’t know what was causing them. Later, in 1974, Robert Brown and Bruce Balick used a much more precise radio telescope to pinpoint the exact source, which Brown named Sagittarius (Sgr) A (pronounced “A-star”). Later studies confirmed that the source is indeed a supermassive black hole.
The gravity of black holes is so strong that nothing can escape their horizons, including light, and as such, astronomers are not able to see them directly. Instead, they study them indirectly by examining their effects on the space around them. In optical light, the center of the Milky Way near the supermassive black hole is mostly obscured from view by clouds of gas and dust. However, observing our galactic center in radio light, which can see through these clouds, provides a much more exciting view.
The first radio image of Sgr A*, taken in 1983, revealed a mini-spiral of hot gas. Subsequent observations have shown that the black hole is surrounded by smoke rings from supernova remnants and other materials caught within its magnetic field.
To learn more about NRAO’s radio observations of this object, see our press release here.
Radio Very Large Array
Infrared Spitzer Space Telescope
Visible Hubble Space Telescope
Radio 2
Saving Your Image
Choose the size you would like your final image to be. When you click generate, it will be rendered at your chosen resolution and appear in the placeholder space below. Then you can right click to save (on desktop) or tap and hold to save (on mobile.)
