Maïca Clavel

Twenty years ago, an X-ray image of the Arches cluster resembled a photo of a person in thick fog: the cluster itself was drowned in the glow of a neighboring cloud. The cloud acted like a mirror, reflecting hard radiation from the vicinity of the black hole, and that reflection swamped the faint signal from the stars.

In the very center of the Milky Way, hidden behind a thick veil of dust, lies a giant accumulation of gas — the Central Molecular Zone. You can't see it with the naked eye: dust absorbs visible light, much like dense fog hides the lights of a city.