Voting period is over. Please don't add any new votes. Voting period ends on 7 Oct 2012 at 11:50:39 (UTC)
Original – The center of Milky Way Galaxy is located in the constellation of Sagittarius. In visible light the lion's share of stars are hidden behind thick clouds of dust. This obscuring dust becomes increasingly transparent at infrared wavelengths. This 2MASS image, covering a field roughly 10 x 8 degrees (about the area of your fist held out at arm's length) reveals multitudes of otherwise hidden stars, penetrating all the way to the central star cluster of the Galaxy. This central core, seen in the upper left portion of the image, is about 25,000 light years away and is thought to harbor a supermassive black hole. The reddening of the stars here and along the Galactic Plane is due to scattering by the dust; it is the same process by which the sun appears to redden as it sets. The densest fields of dust still show up in this mosaic. Also evident are several nebulae to the lower right, including the Cat's Paw Nebula. The 2MASS analysis software has identified and measured the properties of almost 10 million stars in this spectacular field alone.
Reason
Has a free license, has high resolution, has EV, also a good image of the Galactic Center.
Question we already have Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Milky Way galaxy which seems to have better focus on the galactic core. How is the image that you're nominating contributing to the article in a way that the current FP doesn't? Pine✉ 19:43, 28 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
For me, my nomination contributed well because it has more EV than the current FP. Because the image I am nominating is the lead image on the article Galactic Center where both of the image appeared in while the current FP is just used in the Gallery section. Medirantalk|contribs 23:52, 28 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's true that this is the lead image and the other FP is in the gallery, but it seems to me that you could just swap the current FP to be the lead. I don't see how this particular photo contributes a huge amount of EV. Pine✉ 21:34, 30 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
