As inhabitants of a flat galactic disk, Earth and its solar system have an edge-on view of their host galaxy, like looking at a glass dish from its edge. From our perspective, most of the galaxy is condensed into a blurry narrow band of light that stretches completely around the sky, also known as the galactic plane.

This segment extends mostly through the constellation Sagittarius but also includes small areas of Ophiuchus. The flat band of green running through this region is mostly dust in the distant disk of the Milky Way galaxy. The very center of the Milky Way galaxy falls at the right edge of the image; such views of the inner region of our galaxy are not possible in visible light. The well-known Trifid nebula, which is the most distinctive visible light feature in this area, is also seen here (center left) but its light is mingled with other dust and star-forming regions and does not stand out in the infrared.

The swaths of green represent organic molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are illuminated by light from nearby star formation, while the thermal emission, or heat, from warm dust is rendered in red. Star-forming regions appear as swirls of red and yellow, where the warm dust overlaps with the glowing organic molecules. The blue specks sprinkled throughout the photograph are Milky Way stars.

This survey segment spans galactic longitudes of 0.0 to 8.3 degrees and is centered at a galactic latitude of 0 degrees. It covers about two vertical degrees of the galactic plane.